Clean
by xmjcx
Summary: Bethyl AU. Beth Greene is a part-time waitress at Carol's diner, and it is there that she meets Daryl Dixon, the town baker who is also a regular when it comes to breakfast. Apparantly, their initial shyness isn't anywhere enough for trouble in their relationship, and the return of Merle Dixon to the small town that they live in only seems to stir things up even more. Rated M.
1. Chapter 1

**I don't even know what this is, but I will say right now that it isn't a one-shot. All I know is that I couldn't get this idea out of my head, so... Yeah.  
**

 **Enjoy.**

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The familiar sound of a bell tinkling as the door to the diner opened caused Beth to jump up from where she was sitting behind the breakfast bar, the book that she had been busy reading snapping to a shut once her hand had snapped away from it. The clock that hung up in the diner had broken a few weeks before, but Beth knew that it was still quite early in the morning - knew because the diner hadn't experienced the typical mad rush that came around seven thirty and didn't calm down until ten, knew because it was still quite dark outside and because the street lights were still on.

And Beth definitely knew that it was still quite early in the morning when she saw that her new customer was none other than Daryl Dixon, who didn't bother to let on to her as he strolled into the diner and made his way over to one of the booth's that sat hidden away in the corner. If Beth had to guess which booth was Daryl's favourite, then she would definitely say that one. The man almost always came by for breakfast before he began his daily routine of working at the bakery that he owned in town.

The bakery did well enough, too, although that was almost to be expected in a small town where there was only ever really one of everything. After all, they didn't even have a proper supermarket here; the closest Wal-Mart being a good forty five minute drive away, and that wasn't even one of the super stores. But the local people here liked to buy the local produce; which was one of the reasons why her daddy's farm did so well, and it was probably (definitely) one of the reason's that Daryl's bakery did so well, too.

Whenever she went there, though, Beth always found herself wondering what it was that made Daryl go there without fail every single day of the week. Sometimes, he took a day off, although it was well-known that he only ever did that if he was going out hunting or was visiting his older brother, Merle, who was locked away behind bars somewhere in the city. Some of the people around town were still quite wary of Daryl, if only for the fact that he had the surname Dixon, although Beth was pretty confidant that if anyone in this whole town was a good man, then it was him.

When it came to routine, though, it seemed like Daryl was not one to want to break it, and he practically always stopped by the diner every morning for his breakfast before he made his way over to work. Knowing that Daryl would be stopping by was one of the only reasons that Beth enjoyed working the early shift (OK, it was the _only_ reason, but she wasn't about to admit that to anyone), even if he never did say much to her at all.

At that moment in time, there were only three other customers in the diner; all who were happily munching on their own foods and sipping on their own drinks. As was standard, T-Dog was working in the kitchen, although Beth had a feeling that he was probably watching one of his shows on his phone round about now, considering the fact that they were still very quiet. Beth didn't envy her colleague, though - considering the fact that there were times when she thought that waitressing was hard, she didn't even want to imagine just how difficult it could get for those who were busy working in the kitchen.

Without putting much thought into her actions, Beth smoothed over her hair - making sure that it was all tucked up as neatly as it possibly could be, considering the fact that the blonde strands had been styled in a sloppy, half-braided pony-tail - as she pushed herself down from the bar stool that she had been sat at, leaving the book that she had been reading to rest on the side as she made her way over towards Daryl's booth, trying not to think too much about the way that her heart rate sped up as she approached him or the way she instinctively swayed her hips a little bit more than usual as if she was trying to catch his attention.

He wasn't looking in her direction (although that wasn't necessarily something new, if she was honest with herself), but Beth always had a feeling that Daryl was watching her out of the corner of his eye, so she made an effort to look as womanly and attractive as she possibly could whenever she was around him, anyway. Beth figured that she would never really know whether he paid her any attention at all, but she secretly hoped that he did.

Oh, how she wished that he did.

"Good morning, Mister Dixon," Beth said in a sing-song voice as she reached the booth that he had sat himself in, a bright and happy smile plastered on her face as she attempted to mask how tired and worn-down she truly felt. Never appearing to be a man of many words, Daryl Dixon just nodded his head at her - only once, though - in response to her friendly greeting, choosing to completely avoid all eye contact with the young woman and instead focusing all of his attention to the menu that he was gripping tightly in both of his large hands.

Trying not to show any disappointment with the older man's lack of response (although what on earth it was that she had been expecting from him, Beth wasn't sure - after all, Daryl Dixon didn't speak to _anyone,_ so why would he speak to _her?_ ) and instead busied herself by pulling out the small yet heavy notepad that sat comfortably in the back pocket of her jeans.

Swallowing down all of her nervousness and sudden self-consciousness as she worried over what to say to the ruggedly handsome man that apparantly found her to be so boring and dull and uninteresting that he couldn't even look up at her from the sticky laminated menu, Beth reached behind her ear and tugged on the pen that was resting there - the pen that was _always_ resting there; the pen that she often forgot to remove from there, the pen that she only remembered was there when she went to take a shower and it fell out into the tub or when she went to get into bed after working the late shift and the lid of it stabbed into the back of her ear - and held it between her forefinger and thumb, her bright smile never faltering.

"Can I get you anything to drink while you look over the food?" Beth asked, not needing any more hints that Daryl Dixon was not interested in enjoying any type of small-talk with her. It was always the same song and dance with them, always the same routine, although he actually did like to regularly change up his food and drink order - always keeping her on her toes with it, never saying what it was that she had been expecting him to.

Daryl shrugged his shoulders at her in response, and for a moment, Beth thought that he wasn't going to have anything to drink at all - which would actually be completely unusual for him - but that was before he mumbed out that he would have _"jus' a water"_ , his rough voice so quiet and so low and so hushed that Beth was actually sort of _impressed_ with herself for managing to hear him in the first place.

But her skills for being able to hear his mumbled words really had absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Beth Greene noticed just about everything that Daryl Dixon did and said.

Nothing to do with that at all.

In all honesty, Beth really didn't have to write that down because she'd remember it regardless, but she jotted down his table number too and before she realised what she was doing, she was drawing a little smiley face next to it. Her cheeks burned red once she had realised exactly what she had done, and Daryl chose _that_ exact moment of all moments to finally look up at the youngest Greene girl from where he sat in his booth in the back of the diner. Instinctively, Beth's cheeks began to burn, and she had a feeling that he would definitely notice just how red her whole face had gone from embarrassment.

Stuttering over her rushed words, Beth shoved her notepad back into her pocket as she informed Daryl that she would be right back with his drink and to take his food order before she flashed him another smile (although it was the exact same smile that Beth Greene saved for _everyone,_ of course; not just the smile that she saved for Daryl Dixon, because what reason at all would she have to smile any differently at him?) and hurried away, making a bee line towards the kitchen.

For once, Beth didn't want that man's eyes on her, but she could _feel_ Daryl's deep blue eyes staring into the back of her head as she practically ran into the kitchen, the worn light-pink door that led into it swinging to a close behind her.

T-Dog looked up at Beth from where he was staring intently at his phone, one headphone resting in his ear as the other danged down his shirt. The volume was turned up loud enough so that Beth managed to hear the sound of people screaming in terror, and she shuddered inadvertedly, wondering to herself (not for the first time) how the man could ever even _watch_ those damned zombie programmes where people were ripped into pieces quite graphically, never mind actually _enjoy_ them.

He paused the programme and quirked a brow at her as Beth shook her head and grabbed a glass, filling it with a few cubes of ice before pouring some water into it.

"No food order yet," she told him, practically reading his mind, and T-Dog nodded at that before returning his attention back to his phone, ready to hit the 'play' button with his thumb. "Be ready for one in a couple of minutes, though," she said, and T-Dog nodded once again before resuming his programme as Beth rushed out of the kitchen, shuddering again before making her way over to Daryl's table.

* * *

She was a pretty thing, Beth Greene.

He'd thought it for a while; since the first time that he had ever saw her, really, and his favourite morning's were the one's where she would be working and serving him his breakfast - although he'd never admit that out loud, and sometimes he wouldn't even admit it to himself. But other times - times like today, when she was seeming to be behaving a little bit strangely, too jumpy for his liking and too nervous - Daryl couldn't help himself but worry about her, and it was those moments when he would (finally) admit to himself that he actually cared about the girl more than he probably should, especially considering the fact that he couldn't even find it in him to say more than a handful of words to her.

But Daryl had always been shitty with words, and he had a feeling that Beth Greene knew that, too. Thing was, she had these eyes - all big and blue and soft and doe-like (even though they weren't brown, but _still_ ) - and those damned eyes got him every single fucking time. Those eyes that looked at him like he was something else; like he was actually a person, a real human being, and not just a piece of trash that somehow managed to pull himself halfway out of the gutter that he was born in.

Sometimes, Beth Greene gave him _that_ look, too - the look that he had seen other's give to each other, but never to him - the look that screamed that someone was interested in you, the look that shouted out that they were actually attracted to you.

And whenever he saw _that_ look from her, Daryl Dixon did what he did best: he ran.

Cause goddamnit, he was a dumbass. A stupid piece of white-trash, some dumb redneck who couldn't even muster up the courage to say a couple of words to a pretty girl. He was such a fucking _idiot_ and he knew it, too, which rarely made any of it feel better - if anything, it usually made him feel worse; much worse, to the point where Daryl wanted to do nothing more than hide in his shitty cabin in the middle of the woods where he lived alone and never come out into the daylight again.

"So, what can I get you to eat, Mister Dixon?"

When she addressed him like that, he couldn't resist the urge to look at her - no matter how much he really wanted to. His deep blue eyes met with her own - a much lighter, softer blue than his; much more _pure_ and clear and innocent, too - and even though he tried his hardest not to look anywhere but her eyes, he couldn't help but notice the way in which she swallowed as she looked at him, as though she was all sorts of nervous about being around him.

Daryl cleared his throat and snapped his eyes back to the menu that was still gripped firmly in his hands before he told her his order; choosing to settle for some pancakes with syrup this morning, choosing to have a bit of a sweeter treat than normal. Beth scribbled it down on her notepad and her cheeks turned that tempting colour of crimson again, and Daryl couldn't help but wonder what it was that she was thinking of as she jotted down his order.

There had been a moment before when she had done something similar, but as soon as her face had turned a shade of beetroot red, Beth had shoved that notepad in her back pocket and scurried towards the kitchen to grab his drink like her whole life depended on her getting there and back as quick as she possibly could.

Maybe she was just exhausted, and that was why she was acting so strangely; after all, Daryl supposed she did look tired, all messy-hair and dark bags under her bright eyes (although it was clear that she had tried to hide them with her make-up, but she had failed - at least, to him, anyway).

Still, it didn't matter to him just how tired she looked.

As far as Daryl Dixon was concerned, Beth Greene _always_ looked pretty.

After she had scribbled down his order, Beth offered him another one of her smiles as she told him that T-Dog wouldn't be long whipping up his order.

Daryl wanted to smile back at her and tell her that he knew; he knew because T-Dog never took long to make his food and always did a damned good job of it, too, even at this early hour, and that he knew because Beth never made him wait for it, either, she always grabbed the plate as soon as T-Dog put it on the side and she always brought it straight over to him, reminding him that it was hot and that he needed to be careful of it.

But he didn't do any of that. Didn't do it because he was Daryl Dixon; dumbass extraordinaire who couldn't even speak whenever a woman was around him, never mind Beth fucking Greene. Cause she was too pretty and too perfect and too distracting to the point where all he could do was offer her small glances and head nods and mumbled words and grunts.

Still, Beth carried on beaming at him nonetheless as she tucked her pen back behind her ear and made her way over to one of the other booths that was now empty. Daryl watched as the young woman scooped up the money that had been left on the table before she carried it over to the till, depositing all of it into the drawer before closing it with a _ping._ Unable to help himself, he frowned as he watched her; watched as she settled herself back down onto the bar stool and as she picked up her book, opening it up and starting to read once more.

Beth didn't even look the slightest bit upset or annoyed or even disappointed about the fact that the customer hadn't bothered to tip her - not even a fucking dollar. Instead, she looked calm and peaceful as she started reading her book, and it was in that moment that Daryl realised just how _good_ Beth Greene really was; even if he didn't need a reminder about it, even if he just knew because it was her and who else on this planet could be a better person than her?

And Daryl Dixon may not have been raised to be a gentleman, but he made sure that he tried his best to be, anyway, and he always made sure that he tipped when he came here - _especially_ when it was Beth Greene who served him. Hell, it wasn't even just 'cause she was the prettiest girl that he had ever seen; it was because she was kind and charming and funny, and she always made an effort to smile and to be pleasant and to be quick, and Daryl had never seen her get even the most complicated or picky of orders wrong or confused.

But today, Daryl's meal would probably only cost him five dollars or so; probably not even that, really. And he'd make sure that instead of just leaving a ten dollar bill for her, he'd leave a twenty.

And yeah, maybe he would leave her that much of a generous tip just because she was Beth Greene; prettiest and kindest girl in town, the girl with the blonde hair and big blue eyes and even bigger heart.

But hell - who the fuck cared?


	2. Chapter 2

**I just want to say a quick thank you to everyone who has shown an interest in this story simply based off the first chapter; especially to everyone who has taken the time to review - I appreciate your feedback so much more than you all know! I'm not quite sure where I'm going with this, but it's stuck in my head and won't go away so I thought that I may as well drum it out in hopes that I could maybe find a bit of peace.**

 **On a bit of an unrelated note... I've changed my username. Not really a big deal, I know, and I'm not sure how long it takes to update after initially changing it on my settings, but I'm now xmjcx. I've changed it because I've made an account on tumblr under the same name - so xmjcx dot tumblr dot com. I'm not really following anyone because I don't know anyone who has it so if you have it, then give me a follow and I'll be sure to follow you back!**

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The late shift was Beth's least favourite shift of all to work.

The shift itself always seemed to stretch out for far too long despite the fact that it lasted the exact same amount of time that all of the other shifts lasted for (eight and a half hours, precisely). It just seemed as though time would pass by so slowly on that shift; as though the darkness outside had some sort of effect on how quickly the seconds and the minutes ticked by on her wrist watch, as though the crappy re-runs of television programmes that played on the TV set that rested above the bar had some sort of influence on just how eerily quiet the shift was.

During the late shift, customers were sparse; and most of the people who came to eat at the diner during the late hours of the night and the early hours of the morning tended to be night shift workers themselves. People who were either just about to start or had just finished their shifts, or people who were getting their 'lunch break' in the dead of the night. Those types of customers didn't tend to be very friendly at all and usually fixed her with a nasty glare; narrowed eyes and lips curled upwards into a snarl, their words bit out in harsh tones as they barked their orders at her. Beth always tried her best to be more than polite to all of her customers, even these kinds of customers - always smiling and using her manners, always calling them 'sir' or 'ma'am' if she didn't know their names.

It wasn't as though her efforts were at all appreciated, though. In fact, Beth sometimes thought that her attempts to be kind towards the customers who turned up whenever she worked the late shift made them feel even more angry towards her. Sometimes, Beth was so tempted to be anything but polite to them - tempted to remind them that it wasn't her problem that they were working at this time of night, tempted to inform them that if they hadn't already noticed, she was working a crappy shift, too, so the least they could do was be polite to the person who would be serving them their damned food.

But that wasn't her. Beth Greene was known around town for being the sweeter than sugar farmer's daughter who never had a bad word to say about anyone, and never did a bad thing whilst she was at it, either. Beth Greene was known for being kind and polite and respectful, and as much as she sometimes hated having that sort of reputation because it seemed to hold her back, Beth figured that it was better than most other people's.

It wasn't just how slow time seemed to pass and how rude the customers were in the middle of the night that made Beth dislike working the late shift so much, though. More than anything, working that sort of shift messed up her sleeping pattern, and it was especially difficult to work a shift like this tonight and then work the early shift the next day. The routine itself was exhausting; but Beth had wanted to pick up as many hours working at the diner as she possibly could during the summer holidays so that she could start saving up some money, and her boss - Carol - had more than happily obliged to the younger woman's request.

Sometimes, Beth wondered if the older woman was doing it on purpose - wondered if she was trying to torment her, wondered if she was trying to get her to give in and hold up her hands and say that actually, she didn't want those extra hours anymore because it wasn't worth it. If that was the case - although Beth supposed that she would never really know - then Carol was wrong in her assumptions, because Beth was a Greene girl, and Greene girl's were the most stubborn of them all.

Her daddy, Hershel Greene, had his own reservations about his youngest daughter working at the diner in the first place, and his uncertainty towards the whole situation only seemed to worsen when Beth started working these sorts of shifts. Hershel was a kind and understanding father, but that didn't mean that he wasn't over-protective; especially of his youngest daughter, and he sure didn't like the fact that Beth was going to and from work at such unsociable hours. Thankfully, Beth's mama, Annette, had talked her husband round - reasoned with him that their daughter was old enough to know what she wanted to do, and that if she wanted to make some money for herself, then how could that possibly be a bad thing?

That was another thing about the Greene girls: they always seemed to manage to have men wrapped around their little fingers. Once her mama had reasoned with her father, Hershel seemed to grow more understanding and accepting of the predicament, and although he still wasn't happy about the hours that his daughter was working, he came round to it to the point where he didn't pull his face quite as much when she told him that she wouldn't be home until the early hours.

One of the things that Hershel seemed to find so difficult to accept was the way in which Beth stubbornly refused any help from both him and Annette. Beth had seen both of her siblings grow up before her - Shawn had never bothered to go to college and had instead decided to stay at the farm with her parents; and even though Hershel wasn't Shawn's biological father, he treated him as though he was his own child the same way that Annette treated Maggie as though she were her own daughter.

The farm had been in the Greene family for generations, and Shawn was being trained up by her daddy (along with the help of his trusted farmhand, Otis) so that when it came to the point where Hershel was unable to continue to oversee the running of the farm, then Shawn would be able to take over for him.

In typical Maggie fashion, her older sister had instead chosen to rush away to a college that was a good couple of hours drive away from her childhood home at the first opportunity that she got. The oldest Greene girl had returned to the farm for a little while after she had graduated, but with a degree in law, Maggie had accepted that her life would be much better off lived in the city. It was there in Atlanta that Maggie met her current boyfriend, Glenn; and although none of the family had met him yet (which was, again, typical Maggie fashion), the two of them had been together for almost a year now, and were living together, too - so it was safe to say that things were getting pretty serious between them.

Now, though, it was Beth's turn to pave out a life for herself, and like her older sister before her, Beth had decided to go to college. Differently, though, Beth had decided to stay local; her college campus being only a forty minute drive away from the farm each morning, and even less of a journey on the way home when traffic wasn't so busy. Unfortunately, even with all of the hours that Beth had been racking up at the diner over the past two years, she wasn't able to afford to pay rent on her own, and she had straight up refused to accept any money from her father, despite his constant offers.

That was another thing that Hershel didn't seem to be able to understand about his youngest daughter; but Beth was adamant that she wanted to be independent - she craved it, really, but there wasn't much that she could do for herself when she didn't have enough money to be able to afford to pay her own rent, and accepting money from her father to pay her bills didn't seem like it would encourage her to be more independent, either. If Beth was going to do it at all, then she wanted to do it right, and the only way that she would be able to do that would be if she did it by herself.

The sound of the door chiming to signal that another customer had entered the diner caused Beth to snap out of her thoughts, her head snapping around from where she had been half-heartedly watching some of the re-runs on the television set to be greeted with the sight of Daryl Dixon sauntering over to his typical booth that sat in the corner of the diner. Beth blinked several times in his direction, watching as he typically didn't acknowledge her presence and instead busied himself with sitting down, removing his leather jacket and setting it down next to him quite sloppily.

Before she got up to approach him, Beth spared herself a second to glance at the time on her watch and check that she hadn't ended up staying way past her shift; but she was right, it wasn't even three o'clock yet, which meant that she still had more than another two and a half hours before her shift actually finished. Beth had rarely seen Daryl Dixon come to the diner other than to get his breakfast (although there had been a few times when he had come for dinner in the evening, and one time when he had stopped by when she was working the lunch shift), but Beth knew for sure that she had never seen the gruff man come to the diner during the late shift.

Trying not to think too much of the way that her heart rate accelerated as Beth watched him glance over the menu, she pushed herself down from the bar stool that she had been sat at and made her way towards him, smoothening down the light pink button-down shirt that she had to wear as part of the uniform. Her name tag sat neatly on her left breast, five stars accompanying it to demonstrate that she had been working at the diner for far too long. Beth regretted the fact that she had chosen not to do much with her hair that day - leaving it to fall down her shoulders and back in loose but messy curls - and the fact that she hadn't bothered to apply any make-up to her face, either. Whenever she was working the early shift, Beth always (subconsciously) made more of an effort to look good; but now she was beginning to think that it might be a good idea to doll herself up a bit more for her other shifts, too... just in case.

As always, Beth greeted Daryl with a smile, and for once he looked up at her and made eye contact with her before she even spoke to him. It looked like he'd trimmed his hair - it was still long and falling on his face, but not long enough to cover his eyes the way that it had been doing these last few weeks - and her breath instantly hitched in her throat at the sight of his deep blue eyes staring straight up into hers without hesitation.

The problem that Beth found with Daryl Dixon was that he was just so damned _intesne;_ intense to the point where she felt as though her legs were made of jelly and not bone, intense to the point where she felt as though she couldn't even breathe, let alone speak around him, intense to the point where she felt as though she just couldn't handle it.

Taking in a deep breath, Beth composed herself as best she could, her bright smile never faltering despite her nervous thoughts - a trait that she had mastered long before she worked in the diner, but one that had been practiced even more so by working here.

"Good morning, Mister Dixon," Beth greeted him as politely as ever. "What can I get for you at this early hour?"

Daryl didn't say anything to Beth in response to her friendly greeting, but the younger woman had come to expect the silence from him by now. Instead, Daryl nodded his head at her before he cleared his throat; although Beth accepted that from him, that was basically just the same thing as him offering her a cheerful hello.

"Jus' a coffee," he told her in response to her question, and Beth made a little 'mmhmm' noise at him as she pulled out the small notepad from the back pocket of her dark jeans. Tugging the pen from its position behind her ear, Beth made quick work of scribbling Daryl's order down as quickly as she could, double checking how he wanted his drink - _"black"_ \- before she scooted away, letting him know that she would be right back with his mug of coffee.

The young waitress tried her best to ignore the way that her heart hammered loudly against her chest as she made her way over towards the kitchen, busying herself by brewing up the coffee that she would be making for Daryl. Beth tried to calm herself down as much as possible; repeating a mantra over and over again in her head that Daryl Dixon was just the same as any other customer that she had served that night and that he was nothing to get so worked up over.

Besides, despite it being right there on show on her name tag, Daryl probably didn't even know her name. What was the point in getting herself all in a fuss over him when he barely even knew her, never mind liked her?

* * *

Daryl tried to stay away from the diner that morning.

 _Really,_ he did.

Daryl had told himself that she definitely should not have even been listening to Beth's conversation with her colleague the morning before when she had mentioned that she wouldn't be working her usual breakfast shift the next day as she had been put on the late shift, so she wouldn't be seeing them for a couple of days after since the rest of their shifts clashed.

Daryl had told himself when it got past eleven thirty that he should really be in bed considering he was planning on going to work the next day and if he wanted to be there for when the bakery opened, then that would mean that he would have to wake up some time around five thirty, and if he didn't get to sleep soon then he would be stupidly exhausted all day.

Daryl had told himself that he was creepy and perverted and a straight up weirdo when he found himself sat in the driver's seat of his truck, struggling with the seat belt before he put the key in the ignition and set off towards the diner at gone two a.m that morning.

Daryl had then told himself that he was even more of a sicko and even more of a creep when he sat parked outside of the damned place for almost half an hour, debating it over and over in his mind as to whether he should even go inside or whether he should just put the truck into reverse and get his ass back home and to bed.

In the end, though, Daryl Dixon was weak - although he figured that had something to do with the pretty young blonde who worked in this fucking place; the same smiling girl who he couldn't get out of his damned mind, no matter how much he tried or even how much he actually wanted to.

It seemed as though Daryl couldn't help but act like some sort of love-sick puppy around the girl, and (not necessarily for the first time) a part of him was actually glad that Merle was locked up in a cell right now because if his older brother was around, then he would just _know_ that something was going on with Daryl, and then he would never actually hear the end of it.

The thing was, though, Beth Greene was sure as hell more than just a pretty face. Sure, she had a nice looking body, and sure, she was sweet as hell, but more than anything; Beth Greene was _nice -_ nice to everyone, nice even to _him._ That fact alone screwed with his head something awful, because despite the fact that Daryl had always been different from the family that he had been raised in - despite the fact that he had actually gone and done something for himself, despite the fact that he made his money half-decently, despite the fact that he never ventured down the same path that his brother and his father had before him; a lot of people in town still associated his surname with all things bad and all things down right dangerous, and they looked down at him for that, too.

Never Beth Greene, though. No - Beth Greene practically _beamed_ at him whenever she made her way over to him; and even though Daryl knew that the small slip of a girl smiled at just about everybody (because she was nice like that), he wasn't an idiot and he knew that there was often something different about the smile that she saved for him. The signs were all there; all he had to do was read them, and Daryl was an observant guy. He saw the way she batted her lashes from time to time, the way that she nibbled on her lips and the way that her cheeks turned that rosey colour whenever she got a little bit embarrassed around him. Daryl saw the way in which Beth swayed her hips just a little bit more whenever she was walking near him and he saw the way in which she tried to make conversation with him better than she did with everyone else.

The problem was though that Daryl was a straight up dumbass. Sure, he might have been able to read all of those signs that the girl was giving him, and sure, he might have wanted to return her slight flirtatious tendencies, but he sure as hell wasn't brave enough to do any of it. And it wasn't because he was scared of her daddy - old Hershel Greene, farmer with a shotgun and an old nasty habit of drinking - but it was more because he was scared of _her._

Not that he would ever admit it to himself, though. After all, he was a _Dixon,_ and he was pretty sure that if Dixon's should be scared of anything, then it shouldn't be five foot two blonde's who were barely even twenty one and weighed around one hundred pounds soaking wet.

"Your coffee, Mister Dixon."

The familiar sound of Beth's sing-song voice filled his ears, and Daryl had been so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he actually hadn't even realised that she had made her way over to him. Daryl looked right up at her again, just like he had when she had come over to take his order; his deep blue eyes burning straight into her own, stirring something deep inside of him that he wasn't at all familiar with.

Daryl had never been one for eye contact with Beth Greene - problem was that he was always far too awkward around her, far too nervous to look at her for more than a couple of seconds, and above all else, far too fucking _stupid -_ but the early hour of that particular morning seemed to be having some sort of effect on the older man. It seemed to make him braver and bolder and generally more confident.

So Daryl looked right up at Beth and didn't shy away as she leaned down and placed the hot mug on the table in front of him, reminding him (just like she always did) that he should be careful because the cup itself was steaming hot since she had freshly brewed up the coffee for him. Not sure of what to do in the moment, Daryl mumbled out a low _"thanks",_ watching intently as lips turned upwards into a much more gentler smile than he was used to seeing from her.

Daryl might not have been raised right at all, but he still had manners - hell, he might have had to teach them to himself, but he had them anyway; knew when to use them (or at least, when he _should_ use them) and knew how to use them, too. Whenever he was around Beth, though, he found that he more often than not struggled to say anything at all to her and only just realised that in doing so, he probably ended up coming across as being rude as hell towards her, even though that was never his intention.

"Is there anything else that I can help you with, Mister Dixon?" Beth asked him. The younger woman's words were innocent and her smile was genuine enough, too, but Daryl couldn't help himself but wonder whether Beth Greene knew exactly what it was that she was saying to him in that moment; the suggestive undertones that lay hidden beneath her words, the way that his mind was wandering to places that it really shouldn't be, especially when it came to her...

"Nah," Daryl told her with a shake of his head, attempting to snap himself out of the spell that she always seemed to have him under. Just as Beth was about to retreat - he could tell by the way that she was smiling that smile again and the way that her foot took a step back - Daryl shocked himself by speaking up again. "An' it's jus' Daryl."

He didn't even know why the hell he said it, really, considering the fact that he actually sort of liked her calling him that. Sure, it made him sound older, but there was just something about the way that she said his name like that that had Daryl wondering whether the youngest Greene girl was going out of her way to drive him crazy. Whether Beth realised it or not, she sure as hell was a tease, plain and simple - although Daryl had a feeling that she never really did intend to be.

In response to his statement, Beth just simply blinked at him several times; the smile that pretty much always decorated her face wiped off and instead had been replaced by her lips forming the lines of a small 'o'. Those big blue eyes of hers were even wider than usual, filled with what Daryl could only guess was surprise at the sound of him speaking up to her again.

Hell, even Beth was as surprised as he was that he had said anything else to her in the first place; proving to Daryl _exactly_ what a huge jackass he was - and what a huge jackass she must of thought that he was, too. Daryl knew that he wasn't much of a good conversationalist, especially around Beth, but _hell,_ he had actually just tried, and all she was doing in response was looking at him like he had just grown another fucking head.

It took a few more seconds of silence, but eventually - after a long time of Daryl holding his breath and clenching his knuckles - a shy smile tugged at the corner of her lips, and Beth's bright blue eyes looked sort of actually _hooded_ when she blinked down at him. The girl was blushing (but she did that a lot around him), and she nibbled on her bottom lip for a brief while before she spoke up, breaking the silence that had fallen between the two of them.

"Alright," Beth said to him with a small nod of her head, causing some of her long blonde hair to fall forward past her shoulders so that it ran over her chest. "You be sure to let me know if you need anything else, then... Daryl."

And then that was it - Beth was off; turning her body away from him and making her way back towards her typical seat at one of the bar's stools, her tight black jeans clinging to her small frame in ways that made a man like Daryl go half-crazy with lust.

With a shake of his head, Daryl snapped himself out of it before he returned his attention to his coffe and began to sip at it, enjoying the way that the hot liquid burned as it travelled down his throat, the strong taste of the drink distracting him from some sort of impure thoughts of Beth Greene - even if it was just temporarily.

When it came to getting Beth Greene out of his head, though, Daryl Dixon had a feeling that he would most definitely need a stronger drink of choice than some coffee.

* * *

 **As always, thank you so much for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I wasn't really sure where I was going with this when I first started writing it and I'm still not one hundred percent sure, but all of your lovely, kind and genuine words in your reviews have been so motivating that I've stayed up pretty late tonight just to try and push this out. Apologies if there are any obvious grammar/spelling issues etc or if it seems a little shaky; I'll probably go over it in the morning and make a few changes if I'm not happy with anything, but I'm just so exhausted and tired of looking at this and wanted to to get it out to you all quickly as a thank you for how supportive you have all been of this little AU so far.**

 **As always, thanks for reading, and to everyone who has followed/favourited and reviewed this story. Also to all of you lurkers out there. (I also promise that I'm going to be updating my other fics really soon - I just kind of _had_ to get this out because you've all been so amazing). **

* * *

"Beth, can I have a word?"

At the sound of her manager's request, Beth's small body immediately froze in its motions. The diner had just experienced its daily lunchtime rush, but the amount of customers who were coming in and out of the eatery was dwindling down dramatically now that it had gone past two o'clock in the afternoon. Never one to shy away from work, Beth had taken straight to getting everything set up once more so that the diner looked somewhat half presentable again, picking up a couple of cleaning rags and some polish before making her way over towards the first dirty booth that she spotted.

The young woman had just that second sprayed some of the contents of a cheap 'rose scented' cleaning product on one of the messy tables and had been about to wipe it down with one of the old rags when Carol had approached her from behind, taking her completely by surprise.

After a beat or two, Beth span round quickly; her light blue eyes wide as she looked straight at her manager who was standing closer than she expected her to be, her arms folded across her chest and a stern expression on her face. Although she had never had to experience it for herself, she had heard from a few of her colleague's at the diner that 'a word' with Carol (usually) never meant anything remotely positive.

Beth visibly swallowed down her nerves before she nodded her head a few times in acceptance of her manager's request, setting down the old rag and the bottle of spray that she had been clutching in her hands down to rest on the damp table before she followed Carol through to her office which was positioned at the back of the diner.

It had been at least over a year since Beth had set foot into the small box of a room that Carol had claimed as her office, but she knew the way over to it well enough. Still, she followed her manager's lead across the tiled floor of the diner as though she needed some sort of guidance, unable to help herself from over-thinking the situation at hand. As they crossed the surface of the floor, Beth couldn't help herself as her mind ran in loops over the events of the last few weeks of work; the young woman debating over all of the possible things that she may have done in her recent shifts that could cause her manager to be unhappy with her.

Although, in all honesty, the truth was that Carol was a difficult woman to please.

Some of the people in town remembered her as the weak woman; the woman who had been beaten by her husband, the woman who had cowered in the corner in the face of a man. But that had all been before Beth's time, and the youngest Greene girl only knew Carol as hard-faced, strong and stern, a woman who took no nonsense from anybody - especially not any of her employees, or any rowdy customers.

It was difficult for Beth to imagine her manager being anything like the whispers that passed around the town, and although she knew better than to listen (and believe) everything that she heard, she knew that there was only so much that people around here could make up about one person. Sure, the people in this small town were over-the-top, nosy and far too interested in everyone else's lives; but they weren't necessarily malicious, and were definitely not the type of people who would lie about something like domestic abuse just to stir up an interesting backstory.

And Beth Greene had always been a good girl. Jeez, that was all that she was known around town for - her good reputation. The young farmer's daughter who had a sweet voice and played piano and sang in the church choir every Sunday morning, the soft girl who had babysitted for local families since she was thirteen years old just because she was so good with children, the nice girl who wore pastel coloured sundresses that fell to her knees and cowboy boots and cardigans.

Beth Greene was not the type of girl who found herself getting into any trouble - ever.

So she couldn't help but be a little bit on the edge now that Carol seemed to suddenly 'want a word' with the town's very own girl next door.

"Sit down, Beth," Carol instructed as the pair entered the office, the older of the two motioning with her hands for Beth to sit herself down on the old, worn desk chair that was positioned facing the computer.

Silently, Beth did as she was told, shifting herself around on the seat in an attempt to get comfortable (which was incredibly difficult when the hard back of the chair was digging into her spine in all sorts of awkward ways) and slipped her hands underneath her thighs in an attempt to prevent herself from fidgeting with them nervously.

Unlike her colleague, Carol chose not to sit herself down immediately. Instead, the slender woman chose to rummage around some of the folders that decorated the white shelves of the room, flicking through the documents inside of them and pulling out the odd few bits and pieces of paper that she seemed to think were relevant.

As Carol continued to search through the folders, Beth tried her best to catch a glimpse of what was written across some of the papers to try and get some sort of indication as to what it was that Carol wanted to talk to her about. Unfortunately, it was practically impossible for Beth to manage to get even a glimpse at anything that would give away the reason as to why Carol had brought her into the office, so the younger woman bit down on her lower lip and made a poor attempt to distract herself by reading over the tattered posters about customer service that decorated the walls.

Once she seemed to be satisfied with all of the papers that she had pulled out, Carol had turned around and offered Beth a tight closed-lip smile that barely met her eyes before she sat herself down on top of the large chipped safe that took up most the room in the small office. Like Beth had done just a few minutes previously, Carol wiggled herself around until she found herself in a comfortable position, sliding herself backwards so that she was leaning against the wall. Carol took to neatening up the documents that sat in between both of her hands, shuffling them against her jean-clad legs before she glanced up towards Beth, her light eyes scanning over the younger woman who sat nervously before her.

"Don't look so scared, dear," Carol smiled down at her, the tone of her voice slightly teasing, but somewhat relaxing nonetheless.

At Carol's reassuring words, Beth immediately felt the tension seep from her body, her shoulders sagging and her stomach un-clenching as Beth reasoned with herself in her mind that if she was in any sort of trouble, then Carol surely wouldn't be trying to calm her down or encourage her to relax.

"Do you have any idea why I wanted to talk to you today?" Carol asked, cocking a brow in Beth's direction.

Beth shook her head from side to side.

"Really?" There was a little bit of laughter in Carol's voice now, her playful question and her general tone indicating that the older woman was struggling to believe that Beth honestly had no idea why she had been called to the little office that she hadn't set foot inside of for over one year. "You have absolutely no idea? At all?"

"No," Beth confirmed, not quite sure of what to say to her boss at that moment in time, but knowing that she should probably say something.

The problem was, Beth had never been all that good in awkward situations - she always ended up with her cheeks turning a darker shade of red than she ever thought was humanly possibly and either stuttering over her limited choice of words or rambling on about something completely irrelevant (and usually a little too personal or revealing) and embarrassing herself.

As Carol stared at the younger woman with slightly narrowed eyes, Beth felt herself growing nervous once again. She couldn't help but wonder how long Carol could last without blinking even once, because it sure seemed as though the woman barely took half a second to rest her eyes as she stared at her with an expression on her face that Beth just couldn't place.

After a few moments of intense eye contact, Carol's general posture relaxed and she began to let out a little chuckle, shaking her head as she passed the pieces of paper over into Beth's hands.

Not sure of what to do for a few long seconds, Beth simply stared at Carol's outstretched hand and the pieces of paper that were being offered to her from it. Beth's light blue eyes darted between the paper and Carol's face before she reached out her own hand tentatively, allowing her fingers to skim across the documents as though she was waiting for Carol to snatch them back without warning. When her manager did nothing of the sort, Beth allowed herself to clutch at the papers with a firmer, more confident grip, and tugged them closer, allowing herself to bring them towards her at a slow but steady pace.

Carol watched Beth's movements with a gentle smile, her watch on the petite blonde that sat before her never ending; even when Beth broke their eye contact so that her light blue eyes could dance over the words that painted the pages that had just been handed to her. Naturally, Beth's eyebrows knotted together in confusion as she read over the words and began to piece the puzzle together; and once the realisation had dawned upon her about what it was that her manager was wanting to discuss with her, Beth's head shot up immediately.

Those blue eyes that were always wide anyway seemed to be larger than ever, engorged in disbelief, and her lips were parted slightly as she stared straight up at Carol. Her expression was one of a mixture of disbelief and confusion, her breathing slightly laboured before she exhaled a shaky breath.

"Carol, I can't -"

"I don't want to hear it, Beth," Carol said, cutting the younger woman off with her no-nonsense attitude before Beth could begin to babble on with herself too much. "You've worked here long enough, you're good with the customers, and you practically run this place already whenever I'm not here."

After a long pause where Beth found herself struggling to think of what to say, Carol let out another laugh.

"I'm not asking you to take over the whole business," Carol joked, shaking her head a little bit. "I'm just asking you to co-manage with me."

* * *

Daryl looked like shit.

Probably usually did, anyway, but today Daryl looked even worse than usual.

He'd ended up waking up later than he intended to and so hadn't even bothered to attempt to towel dry his too-long hair before he shoved on his clothes and jumped into his truck. Although he was running a little bit late and had wet hair and hadn't even had any time to spray any deodrant on over himself, he still made sure that he headed straight over to the diner before work. Droplets of water were running down the back of his neck and soaking into the top of his t-shirt, and Daryl cursed himself inwardly for not even thinking to at least bring a spare with him to change into.

By the time that he pulled up outside of the diner, it was already forty five minutes later than the time that he usually arrived around and it looked as though the place was starting to pick up; with more cars in the parking lot than he was used to and the booths busier than usual, too. Still, though, Daryl's favourite booth that sat hidden away in the corner of the diner was still free and he made a beeline towards it as soon as he stepped in the place, not even bothering to glance around and look to see whether his favourite waitress was working that day.

Once he had settled himself into the booth, Daryl shook his hair a little bit, hoping that it would help it dry quicker. It wasn't nearly as wet as it had been when he left his cabin; instead, it was more damp than anything, and he figured another ten minutes or so and it would probably be fine. Still, though, that didn't change the fact that his blue jeans were a pair that had more holes in than any of his others because he had forgotton to do any of his washing the night before, or the fact that the back of his light grey t-shirt was now soaked through thanks to his drying hair.

At the end of the day, though, Daryl Dixon had never been one of those guys that worried too much about how they looked - figured he'd save that sort of stuff for the female's in the world who spent far too much money on all sorts of beauty products that he thought they really didn't need. Today, though, he knew that he looked like an absolute mess - even by his standards, and he suddenly regretted rushing about so much now that he was _here._

Without meaning to, he found himself thinking about how he pretty much always ended up stuck bedding some random skank from a bar who reeked of cheap perfume and had botchy make up that looked like it have been applied with a shovel, and then found himself thinking about how there were girls like Beth Greene around who never looked like that. Always looked how she was perfectly done up; her hair all neat (and probably soft to touch, too), her pale skin all even and smooth, her eyelashes long, but not to the point where they looked like they could fall off because they were all fake and cheap and just outright nasty.

Thoughts like those were coming round more often than not, and Daryl wasn't quite sure how to get rid of them. It was becoming more of a habit now, and no matter what he did, he couldn't push away those thoughts of Beth; even if they were wrong and weird and all sorts of creepy and perverted, he just couldn't do it. Couldn't shake her, no matter what. Couldn't get rid of her, no matter how hard he tried to.

And God, he tried.

Of course he tried, but it was no fucking use, because by now he had gone and gotten himself into a routine (one that he just couldn't break, because... well, he just couldn't) of visiting the diner for breakfast before work - or sometimes for lunch, or occasionally for dinner (or one time, in the middle of the night, just for a coffee) - and he ended up seeing her more often than not, and she was way too nice for him to be able to shove her from his mind.

Lord knows she didn't do any of it on purpose - girls like Beth Greene were way too sweet for that sort of manipulative shit. 'Cause sure, even though she was flirty with him from time to time when she wanted to be, the girl was still classy and tasteful and so much better than him in every way that he could possibly imagine. Still, though, it looked as though Beth had well and truly wormed her way into his mind, and even if that's all she would ever be - just a little part of his imagination that would always wonder, wonder things like how soft her skin would feel under his rough hands and how sweet she would taste underneath his tongue - then that would be more than enough for him.

Still, though, none of the stupid, pointless, half-heartedly romantic, kind of poetic crap that his mind was coming up with could change the fact that today, Daryl Dixon looked like pure and utter shit.

To make matters worse, it was one of those days where Beth just didn't. Not that Daryl ever thought that there would ever be a day where Beth Greene could look anything but pretty, because let's face it, there probably wasn't ever going to be one. But still, there were times when her appearance was obviously sloppier than usual; when her hair was shoved up in a messy bun or ponytail instead of all neatly brushed and done up, when the bags underneath her eyes were more prominent and the colour of her skin even paler than usual.

Even when she was at her worst, though, Beth still looked like a goddess.

Especially compared to him.

"Good morning, Daryl," she greeted as she trotted over to where he was sat in his usual booth, the sound of the small heels of her cowboy boots clicking across the floor distracting him momentarily. Without even thinking much of it, Daryl turned his attention to what she was wearing, allowing his eyes to scan over her whole attire.

Today Beth had decided to wear her hair in his favourite style on her; all cascading down her back and her shoulders in soft, gentle waves that made her look older and more youthful all at the same time - a style that made him want to reach out and grab it even more than he usually did. She had obviously spent quite some time doing her make-up (hell, he wasn't that stupid, he knew that Beth's eyelids weren't naturally a blended shade of brown and gold) and she wasn't wearing what he was used to seeing her in, either. Instead of her usual jeans and button-down top, Beth was wearing a pair of worn brown cowboy boots and a light yellow sundress, the only hint to her being an employee at Carol's being her ever-present name-tag that rested snugly on her breast.

He must have been staring more intensely than usual because Beth's cheeks began to turn a rosey colour, and even though he knew that he was embarrassing her - probably making her feel all kinds of awkward and uncomfortable and creeped out - he couldn't help but sort of love that reaction that she gave him every time. Although he would never admit it, it kind of soothed his ego knowing that he could elicit that sort of reaction from her, even if it wasn't always in the nicest of ways.

Over the last week or so, Daryl had been trying more and more to say a bit more than his usual limited choice of words to her. Most other people probably wouldn't have noticed, but he just knew that Beth understood that he was trying with her. Knew by the way her smile brightened impossibly whenever he said something other than his order to her, knew by the way that she had started giggling more even when he wasn't even saying anything that was even remotely funny, knew by the way that she had taken to biting on her lip even more than usual and had started doing this thing where she was playing with the ends of her hair around him.

Daryl was still having to push himself out of his comfort zone, though. He'd never been much of a talker (that had always been more of Merle's forte), especially not to women, so it actually took him by surprise when he opened his mouth and beat her to even asking him what he wanted to drink.

"No uniform today?" Daryl asked, his brow arching instinctively as his eyes roamed over her appearance once again, his head nodding in her direction. As if she wasn't quite sure what it was that he was talking about, Beth lowered her head so that she could look over her attire, too, holding her hands up in the air slightly as she looked over herself.

A moment later, her head of blonde hair was snapping back up and she offered him one of her widest ever smiles - one of those smiles that ended up forcing him to smirk back at her, unable to hold back the twitching corners of his mouth.

"Yeah," Beth said, sounding a little prouder than usual. "I've been promoted, actually," she explained, motioning to her clothing. "That's why, I, er... S'why I can wear what I want now."

Daryl nodded his head in understanding, his deep blue eyes never straying from her own.

"Looks good," he said, not even registering what he was saying until the words had already fallen from his mouth and it was far too late. Daryl's compliment didn't seem to scare her off, though - if anything, the young woman was looking even happier than she had done before.

"Thank you," Beth said to him, her genuine surprise and obvious satisfaction evident in her tone.

Trying not to think too much of the way that Beth's cheeks were turning rosier by the second (or the way that the tips of his ears were doing a similar thing), Daryl cleared his throat and simply nodded his head in her direction, leaving it at that before he ended up saying something else that made things awkward as hell. Daryl averted his gaze down towards the menu, unable to stop himself from falling in on himself, even if he didn't really want to.

"So, what can I get you to drink this morning, Mister Dixon?" Beth asked as she pulled a pen from behind her ear, her small notepad that she always jotted his order down on already waiting in her hands.

Daryl narrowed his eyes slightly at her at the way that she addressed him.

"How many time's 've I gotta tell you, girl, s'just Daryl," he said, his gruff tone doing nothing but cause her to giggle loudly.

Daryl couldn't help himself but to smirk along with her laugh - hell, it was infectious enough as it was, he was surprised he managed to not laugh along with her, even at his own expense - before he cleared his throat once again. "I'll jus' have a coke."

Beth nodded and jotted his drink order down on her notepad, a small smile still resting on her face as she did so.

"I'll go get that for you right away," she said to him, tucking the pen back behind her ear once she'd finished. "And then I'll be back to take your food order."

Daryl tried his best to smile at her, hoping that his shabby appearance didn't put her off too much. Hell, if it did, then the girl was a pretty good actress, although he had a feeling that working in a food place like this would make you have to be able to plaster on a smile and be polite no matter what - even if it meant serving creepy men who had at least a good twelve or thirteen years on you.

Once again, Daryl tried his hand at being polite to his waitress; although he didn't miss the surprised look that she threw his way when he let out a simple _"thanks, Beth."_

Looked like he'd have to try and make more of an effort at being polite with her after all.

* * *

 **For any of you who missed it, Beth now knows that Daryl knows her name - _that's_ why she was looking at him all surprised; but obviously, Daryl being Daryl thought that it was because she was shocked that he was being polite to her. **

**Thanks for reading and please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

Absolutely nobody knew about Beth's crush on Daryl Dixon.

It felt strange calling it that, even just in her own mind - a 'crush'. It just sounded so silly; so wrong and so ridiculous, so childish and so _stupid._ Beth knew that her feelings for the rough man were absolutely anything but immature, even if she did barely know him, and the young woman found that he was growing to be more of a distraction to her than she would have ever initially thought possible.

All of it seemed harmless at first. The coy smiles, the flirtatious comments, the longing looks... But now that she thought on about it, he was becoming her own personal addiction. She realised it on the days when she didn't see him; the days where she wasn't working, or he wasn't working, too, so had no real reason to visit the diner. She realised it every morning at around six o'clock when her head started snapping up each time another customer entered the diner, wondering whether or not it would be him who would be strolling through the doors. No, all of this was far from harmless anymore; but Beth was stuck in a horrible position, knowing in her heart that she would never be brave enough to be able to make the first move with him.

As always, the weeks passed by uneventfully; but Beth couldn't help but notice the way in which Daryl was starting to change around her. She noticed the small and subtle ways that he was always trying to make an effort to at least say something to her whilst there was a time not long before when he couldn't even find it within him to look her straight in the eyes. She noticed that he was calling her by her _name_ , too, and although Beth had tried not to think too much on it (reminding herself that she did wear a name tag, for goodness sake), there had been a few occasions where he had teasingly addressed her with her surname, and Beth would at least admit to herself that it felt good knowing that Daryl Dixon knew who she was.

But with those sorts of thoughts came the negative ones, too. Thoguhts of self-doubt and uncertainty, of insecurity and unease. Thoughts where Beth admitted to herself that since Daryl Dixon knew her name, then he most definitely knew her whole story, too. The gruff man would know her the same way in which everyone else in town knew her; as the _good girl,_ the clean girl, the girl who got straight A's at school and who spent her time baking sweet treats for the children in town, the girl who never even so much as got a detention in high school and who had only courted two boys in her whole (almost) twenty-one years.

Likewise, though, Beth knew all that she possibly could about Daryl Dixon, too. She knew that he was different from his unstable brother and alcoholic father, sure, but that he also still carried their surname and he still drove a motorcycle and he still went to dive bars that Beth could never imagine even walking _past,_ never mind _into._ People around town passed along whispers about everyone, and Daryl Dixon was no exception; but to his credit, at least he was labelled as _'the good Dixon'._ That didn't necessarily mean that he didn't still hold tightly to a bad-boy image, though, and as much as she hated to admit it, Beth knew in her heart that guys like him just didn't go for girls like her.

Girls like plain, boring, simple and sweet Beth Greene never caught the attention of men like Daryl. No, Beth Greene caught the attention of the mother's in town who desperately wanted their boys to be with the town's very own sweetheart, the typical girl next door. Men like Daryl Dixon, though... he'd never want anyone as dull and as innocent and as tame as Beth was.

She was sure of it.

"Who is he?" Sasha had asked her one day whilst the two of them were out shopping.

Beth's eyebrows had furrowed at the question, although she chose not to say anything in response to her best friend's question. Instead, Beth had remained silent, waiting for the other girl to elaborate further.

Not entertaining Beth's reluctance to spill all of the information about the new crush that she was harbouring, Sasha had rolled her eyes at Beth's lack of response and let out a dramatic sigh.

"Beth," Sasha had said, giving her friend a stern and knowing look. "I _know_ you. And I know how you act when there's a guy on the scene. Who is he?"

It would have been all too easy for Beth to just straight-up confess everything to her best friend of five years - after all, the young blonde was a terrible liar, and she knew that Sasha would easily see right through everything that she had to say if she was to lie. Still, though, Beth couldn't manage to get the older man's name off her tongue, even though a part of her actually desperately wanted to confide in someone about her confusing feelings for Daryl.

In the end, though, Beth had just bowed her head slightly and shook it from left to right before telling Sasha that right now, it really didn't matter. She knew that there would be absolutely no way for her to deny that there was someone on her mind, but she also knew that right now, there really wasn't any possible way that she would be able to even put into words the way she felt for someone who had only just started talking to her recently.

So Beth kept her feelings to herself, not uttering them to a single soul - not even to her best friend. The only thing that she could confide in was her diary, although that didn't bring her as much relief as it usually did since she knew that it all still had to be kept hidden and under wraps. Sometimes there was nothing more wonderful than venting all of your frustrations and your confused thoughts to your friends, or even your mama; but Beth was in a situation where she didn't exactly feel comfortable doing that, so she kept everything close to her heart and said nothing about it to anyone.

Even though she really, _really_ wanted to.

. . . .

"Miss Greene," a familiar southern voice drawled from behind where she was stood wiping down the bar, her back towards the booth's that littered the expanse of the floor.

At the sound of the voice coming from behind, Beth immediately froze in her motions; the dirty rag that she had been using to wipe down the sticky surface of the bar still clutched tightly in one of her small hands as she slowly turned her upper body so that she could properly look over her shoulder at the bulky man who stood behind her.

It was no other than Shane Walsh, Rick Grimes' partner, standing directly behind her wearing his work uniform; showing off his new hairstyle (all of his long, curly hair that had made him look somewhat attractive was now gone - all of it had been shaved off, apparantly something that he had chosen to do himself one morning) as he stood with his legs spread apart and his hands on his hips.

Not sure exactly what it could be that the intimidating man wanted from her, Beth simply offered Shane one of her soft smiles. It was strange to see the bulky man in the diner without his partner as they usually stopped by together during their lunch breaks to get something quick to eat; and now that she thought on it, Beth was certain that there had never been a time when she had seen Shane visit the diner alone, or at this early hour. Still, though, the younger woman always tried to make a conscious effort not to be too judgemental (or nosey, for that matter) and so tried not to think any more of it.

"Good morning, Mister Walsh," Beth said with a nod of her head before she returned her attention back to wiping down the surface of the bar. "Is there anything at all that I can do for you at all today?"

"When d'ya get promoted?"

Once again, Beth's movements stilled at Shane's question, trying to figure out whether or not he was actually being serious about trying to make some sort of small talk with her. Now that she thought more on it, he had never been one to make any conversation with her at all - sure, he offered her a few long gazes every now and then and allowed his eyes to travel over her body far too many times for her liking, but he never actually made an effort to have any sort of conversation with her. It was always his partner, Rick, who made any effort to talk to her whenever the pair of them stopped by, so Beth was more than slightly taken aback by his attempt to talk to her.

"A few weeks back," Beth answered simply, turning her head over her shoulder again so that she could offer him a quizzical look. A long few moments of silence passed between them before Beth spoke again, confused by Shane's behaviour. "Would you like me to get you somethin' to eat, Mister Walsh?"

Shane nodded his head several times and dropped his arms so that they fell to his sides whilst Beth instructed him to go and sit himself down in a booth of his choice, letting him know that she would be right with him to take his order. Before he made any attempt to walk away, Shane gave Beth one last lingering look, his tongue running over his bottom lip as his eyes scanned over her body from head to toe.

Beth resisted the urge to shiver in disgust and instead busied herself by finishing off wiping down the bar, throwing the rag over to the other side before reaching for the notebook that sat in the corner of her cardigan and headed over towards the booth that Shane had made himself comfortable in.

"What can I get for you to eat this morning, Mister Walsh?" Beth asked, her tone as polite as it was for all of her customers.

Shane cocked a brow in her direction, a little smirk on his lips as he gave her another strange look before he read his order from the menu. Beth jotted his food of choice down onto the paper as quickly as she possibly could, making absolutely no attempt to ensure that her writing was at all neat or tidy, before she let him know that she would put it right through to the kitchen so that it would be with him soon enough. Not giving him much more room to make any more awkward comments or ask her any more strange questions, Beth turned herself away from the booth that the older man was sat in and went to walk towards the kitchen, but Shane was much quicker in his movements than she was and wasted no time in snapping his hand out in front of her, gripping tightly to her wrist and tugging her body back towards him with enough force to make the slender girl take a step backwards.

Competely caught off guard, Beth's light blue eyes widened dramatically and a slight gasp escaped her lips from the shock of Shane's advances. Instinctively, she turned herself around completely, her brows furrowed and cheeks a rosy colour as confusion danced over her features - and a little bit of anger, too, because she couldn't quite believe that Shane thought that his behaviour towards her was at all appropriate.

For what felt like forever, the pair of them were silent, blue eyes boring into brown. Eventually, though, Shane cleared his throat and rubbed one of his hands over his face before he leaned closer towards the young woman, his voice low and slightly hushed, making it more than obvious that he didn't want anyone around them to overhear what he was saying to Beth.

"You feel free to let me know if that Dixon guy bothers you too much," Shane murmured, tilting his head towards the booth that Daryl was sat in as he finished off his own breakfast.

At the mention of Daryl's surname, Beth's light eyes broke away from Shane's and snapped straight in the direction of the booth that the surly man claimed for himself every morning, and her breath unexpectedly hitched in her throat when she realised that he was staring straight back at her, watching the entire interaction with an intense stare. The young woman held his gaze for a long few seconds before she visibly swallowed and re-directed her attention to Shane.

"Thanks, Mister Walsh," Beth managed to bite out through clenched teeth. "But I'm doin' just fine on my own. Daryl Dixon is a nice man."

Shane shook his head at that, the smirk on his face incredibly mocking and somewhat sinister.

"You keep tellin' yourself that, darlin'," Shane said, meeting her gaze once again in a way that made her feel incredibly uncomfortable.

Not sure of what else to say, Beth fixed Shane with her coldest stare before she marched herself over towards the kitchen, refusing to give him the satisfaction of turning around and glancing back at him over her shoulder. As far as Beth was concerned, the sheriff's deputy was completely overstepping his mark; going out of his way to make her feel out of place and insecure in her own diner. As a member of management, Beth knew that she was more than entitled to throw him out of the place if she wanted to, but she figured that it would be best not to cause a scene with him.

After all, that was probably all that Shane wanted from her, anyway. And Beth Greene had absolutely no reason to rise to him.

* * *

The whole interaction between Beth and Shane Walsh had taken Daryl by surprise and had equally confused the shit out of him, too. She sure as hell didn't look comfortable around the guy, especially when he went and grabbed her wrist when she went to turn away from him, and even though his hunter's instincts were good, Daryl still couldn't hear their hushed words from the other side of the diner.

His curious blue eyes followed the blonde as she pottered around the place, serving Shane his food with a bitter glare that he had never seen from her - nor had he ever expected to see, really. Beth was a sweet girl; always smiling and giggling and being kind to people, never the sort of person to be rude or unkind or even remotely nasty. Still, though, Daryl could tell that there was something _off_ about his favourite blonde now that Shane had entered the diner, and truth be told, Daryl didn't like the way that the other man was leering at Beth every time she walked past him, either.

Whilst he was wrapped up in his thoughts of Beth as he casually chewed on his bacon, Daryl hadn't been paying much attention to his surroundings and didn't even notice that someone had slipped into the same booth that he was sat in until he saw two pale hands resting on the opposite side of the table from him. At the sight of them, Daryl's head immediately snapped up at a speed that had him surprised that he didn't break his neck, although the sight of Beth Greene sat so close to him from the other side of the table probably would have been worth it, anyway.

"Hi," Beth said to him, sounding more than just a little bit awkward.

Daryl frowned over at her, not sure of what else to do - after all, they had already spoken this morning as she had taken his food and drink order and brought them both over to his table, so he wasn't sure why she was greeting him all over again. Still, though, he nodded his head at her regardless, genuinely curious as to what the hell the beautiful young woman wanted from him.

"Do you mind if I sit here for a second?" she asked, accepting his silence as though it was some sort of actual response.

Daryl's throat suddenly felt incredibly dry, but he managed to croak out a simple response of _"nah"_ anyway.

"Thanks," Beth said, a more comfortable smile stretching out across her lips as her shoulders sagged as though she was relieved. Daryl wondered to himself over whether Beth thought that he would actually reject her; tell her that hell no, she couldn't sit there.

If she did actually think that, then the girl was batshit crazy; more innocent than he had ever initially thought. If it wasn't obvious that he liked her by now, then Daryl wasn't sure when Beth would clock onto it - if she ever would.

A short period of silence passed between them for a brief while as Beth stared up at Daryl expectantly. Even when the pair of them were both sat down in the booth, it was evident that the youngest Greene girl was a lot shorter than he was, and Daryl found that he actually sort of _liked_ that about her. Eventually, though, Beth chose to break the silence, answering his silent question that she probably knew that he would never voice, even if she outwardly asked him to do so.

"Shane gives me the creeps."

A part of him had been expecting her to say that - or at least, something similar, anyway.

"Ain't gonna blame you," Daryl told her with a shrug before he chewed on a little bit more of his bacon.

Beth watched him as he ate for another short while before she spoke again.

"He told me that I should let him know if you ever give me any trouble," Beth went on to explain, her tone sounding slightly hesitant, as though she was unsure about whether or not she should tell Daryl just what Shane had said about him. Truthfully, though, Daryl had kind of been expecting her to say something similar to that, too - although he might not have been expecting her to be quite so blunt with him about it.

Beth Greene; always full of surprises, apparantly.

"He did, huh?" Daryl responded, shrugging his shoulders as he spoke, knowing full well that his tone most likely sounded bitter and spiteful towards the other man.

Inside, the surly redneck was debating whether or not he really gave two shits what Shane had said to Beth about him. He figured that if the guy would have said it to anyone else, then he probably wouldn't have cared at all - after all, he knew that just because he wasn't half as bad as his brother or even remotely close to as bad as his old man didn't mean that he still didn't have a reputation about him.

However, that hadn't been the case - Shane _had_ said it to Beth, and he sure as hell already knew that he probably didn't stand much of a chance with the younger woman, but that still didn't mean that he wasn't pissed off that Shane could have gone and ruined every slim chance that he ever had with her in the first place.

After all, Beth Greene was a good girl - she sure as hell wouldn't want to be messing around with the likes of a Dixon, especially not one that she thought was trouble. Apparantly, Shane wasn't keen on helping him out with winning the pretty young waitress over, although Daryl wasn't all too surprised - it wasn't as though he and Shane knew each other or were even on civil terms, let alone friendly ones.

"Yeah," Beth said, her light blue eyes searching over Daryl's face. Silence passed between them again as Daryl finished off his food before Beth made an effort to say anything again.

"I told him that his help wouldn't be necessary."

Daryl didn't quite know what to think of the way that his heart rate immediately sped up at Beth's words, or the way that his chest suddenly felt as though it was swelling outwards. He mostly tried to think nothing of it at all, but he wasn't dumb enough to not recognise that emotion - that genuine happiness and relief that the youngest Greene girl had done something that probably nobody else in his entire life had ever done for him before; _stood up for him._

Still, though, Daryl had never been good with words and didn't have any idea of what he was supposed to say to her. He knew that if his brother was here, then he'd sure as hell have a quick response to offer to the girl, but Daryl wasn't Merle and he didn't know what Beth wanted to hear from him. So instead, Daryl looked right across the table of the booth at her and tried to pass on everything that he was thinking and feeling through his deep blue eyes. Tried to express his gratitude for her standing up for him, tried to express his uncertainty as to why she would even do that in the first place, tried to express how he wasn't sure whether he shoul accept her kindness and accept it as her being genuine or not.

As though she understood, Beth offered him a sweet, soft smile and batted her lashes a little bit.

"Told him that you're a nice man, too."

Daryl scoffed at that.

"You'd be the first t'think that," he mumbled under his breath, unable to help himself.

From across the way, Beth frowned at him, looking genuinely confused.

"I'm sure that's not true," she said as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "Anyway, I guess I'm telling you this because I know that if I ever did need help over anyone, then it would probably be Shane Walsh."

Daryl thought that the girl was probably right.

"And I know that you'd always help me. So... Thanks, Daryl."

He had been surprised at all of Beth's advances today - had been surprised at the way in which she had just come and settled herself across from him in the booth as though she belonged there, had been surprised at what she had informed him that she had said to Shane about him - but surprised didn't even begin to explain how he felt when Beth reached one of her small pale hands across the table and wrapped it around one of his own, giving it a gentle and reassuring squeeze.

Daryl's deep blue eyes flickered from where her hand rested on top of his to her eyes and back down to their hands again, knowing full well that he was being awkward, but not being able to help himself. He froze up at the unexpected physical contact that she offered to him and had no idea about what the hell he was supposed to offer her in return.

Before he could think too much on it, though, Beth was removing her hand from his and sliding herself out of the booth, that warm smile on her face again as she asked him whether she could get him anything else to eat or drink.

"Nah," Daryl told her with a shake of his head, swallowing down the awkwardness that he had felt just moments before as Beth picked up his empty plate and glass. "That's me done."

"No problem, Daryl," Beth said as she placed the glass on top of his plate. "I'll just go and get you the bill real quick."

That day, Daryl made sure that he left Beth a ten dollar tip - just for good measure.

* * *

 **As always, thanks so much for reading!**

 **Your reviews are honestly so motivating and really encourage me to carry on updating this so regularly. I'm not even sure why I'm so surprised anymore - the people in this fandom are ALWAYS so lovely and supportive, but you still continue to blow me away with your positivity and encouragement.**

 **As you can probably see from this chapter, I'm starting to push things along with the timeline and start to add in other characters to the mix so that we can get down to getting our favourite couple together. Obviously, Daryl's insecurities are going to be an issue that he has to work on before Beth can really get close to him, but we will get there eventually. I promise.**


	5. Chapter 5

**I just wanted to put it out there that I am _always_ open to any suggestions/ideas that you have. Sometimes, writers block can be a real pain in the arse, and although I try my best to push through it, I always love hearing from you about where you think that I could go with this or what you would like to see happen between these two. **

**A guest actually suggested that I show Beth going to visit Daryl in the bakery, and although I wasn't planning on her visiting him there for a few more chapters, I just sort of loved the idea so much that I kind of had no other chocie but to go along with it. So I want to thank that guest for their suggestion as well as encourage you all to leave any ideas that you have for me in your reviews. They are always greatly appreciated!**

* * *

Beth had absolutely no idea what it was that she was doing that particular afternoon.

Well, that was what she was telling herself as she walked out of the doors of the diner once her shift finished at three o'clock and started heading in the direction of town. Truth be told, the young blonde knew _exactly_ what it was that she was doing and where it was that she was walking to as her feet paced quickly against the cracked pavement, her light blue eyes focused only on what was in front of her as she continued to tell herself over and over again that she really wasn't all too sure about what it was that she wanted to eat for her late lunch that day.

In town, there was a limited selection of food places where Beth could grab something quick to eat on the way home with her, but the young woman had more than had enough of the food from the diner - in fact, she had probably had enough food from there to last any other person a lifetime. The only thing that ever encouraged her to eat at the place that she worked at was the fact that Carol allowed them to have whatever they wanted for free, so long as they ate it in their own time.

A few people still ended up snacking on something when they shouldn't be (usually T-Dog, who had a habit of munching on fries in the kitchen as he cooked), but Carol never really had anything to say about it, really. So long as the older woman didn't see any of them doing it, then they were safe; but Beth Greene being the good girl that she was would have never got caught doing anything like that anyway, because she would have never dared to do it in the first place. As far as she was concerned, rules were rules and they were rules for a reason, too, so Beth made sure that she stuck tightly to them.

Maybe that was why Carol had promoted her in the end over anybody else.

Part of Beth was actually a little bit surprised with herself when she ended up standing outside of Dixon's bakery, which was positioned right in the center of town, but she tried not to think on it too much or act like it was too big of a deal (despite the fact that her palms were already getting sweaty beyond belief and the fact that her hands were already shaking a little bit as she reached out to grab the doorknob and the fact that her throat was already dry to the point where she was having to swallow just to moisten it and the fact that her heart was already racing inside of her chest). Using most of her weight, Beth pushed open the door to the bakery - which was much heavier than she anticipated it to be - and glanced around the sizeable space there, noting in her mind that not much had changed since the last time she had visited the little store, and Beth couldn't help but grin at the familiarity of it all.

As soon as Beth entered the store, she was greeted with the delicious smell of freshly baked bread and pastries, and all thoughts of her nervousness disappeared for a brief few moments as she simply indulged in the scent of all of the food that was on offer at Dixon's. Baskets upon baskets of all sorts of baked goods lined up the way towards the counter, where there was even more of a selection of warm foods - things likes pies and croissants - as well as desserts, all protected in a glass cabinet. Spoilt for choice, Beth settled with reaching out for one of the freshly made baguettes that had already been filled with ham and cheese. After she had briefly inspected it and smiled to herself at the low price, she quickly wondered why on earth it had been so many months since she had visited Dixon's bakery.

Without meaning to, the young woman's question had gone and opened a whole can of worms in her mind. Quickly, Beth was reminded of exactly why she had not set foot in the store for so long. It had been before she had began to regularly serve Daryl Dixon in person in the diner and before she had developed an unlikely crush on the older man. Since then, she had been all too nervous and all too awkward to even attempt to muster up the courage to set foot inside of her favourite bakery again. No matter how much Beth loved to indulge in the freshly baked goods that she could aquire from inside of this quaint establishment, she couldn't help but be at least a little bit uncertain about even entering the store in the first place.

After all, Beth thought that Daryl would probably recognise her by now (although if he didn't, then that might even be a little bit more embarassing), and she certainly didn't want to give him the impression that she was some creepy stalker who was going to start popping up everywhere that he went.

Beth knew that she was being ridiculous, of course - Daryl stopped by at the diner regularly enough, and although she knew that they couldn't necessarily consider each other as friends, she could definitely consider him to be an acquaintance of hers. The older man may have been gruff and sometimes unfriendly, but she knew that he was harmless - in fact, Beth was positive that he was one of the nicest men that she had ever met. Unlike other's who came to the diner, Daryl's long looks made her feel anything but nervous; and instead, she found that she actually _wanted_ him to have his eyes on her most of the time.

It was a different sort of feeling that Beth tried not to think too much on, but she enjoyed it nonetheless. Whether or not Daryl actually realised that he was staring at her most of the time, Beth would probably never know, but it was one of the few pleasures that she got from him considering he barely used to even have two words to say to her, so she tried not to put herself down about it too much and simply just go along with it.

Behind the counter was Rosita, a girl who probably had a few years on Beth, but who the younger of the two recognised anyway. Considering it had been quite a while since Beth had visited Dixon's, she figured that Daryl must have gone and employed himself a few more members of staff as she had never seen Rosita working here before. The older of the two was half-sitting against the till point and was chewing loudly on some gum as she looked down at her phone, her dark hair wrapped in some white netting so that it was all pushed back from her face.

Unsure why she was suddenly feeling so nervous once again, Beth approached Rosita a little bit cautiously, choosing to clear her throat to alert her of her presence once she was standing directly in front of the till. Evidently, Rosita had been wrapped up in a world of her own because she jumped at the sound that Beth made, dropping her phone onto the floor and snapping her head up to look straight at Beth. Immediately, the younger woman blushed furiously and began to apologise for scaring her.

"It's okay," Rosita said, shaking her head and smiling a little bit as she reached down to grab her phone. "It's not like it was you who wasn't paying attention."

Not sure of what to say about that, Beth simply offered Rosita a soft smile as she passed over the baguette to her. There was a small fridge area next to the till and Beth reached inside and grabbed a bottle of water, passing that over to Rosita, too.

"Long day?" Beth asked, attempting to make some sort of conversation with Rosita. The two women hardly knew each other - in fact, Beth would be surprised if Rosita knew who she was at all - but she tried her best to be polite regardless.

Rosita shrugged her shoulders at Beth's question as she began to bag up her goods of choice.

"Guess you could say that," Rosita said, letting out a soft sigh. "Only two more hours to go, though."

"I'll keep you in my thoughts," Beth joked, feeling a little bit relieved when the other woman laughed along with her.

"Thanks," Rosita said, shaking her head once again. "I appreciate it."

Beth handed over a five dollar bill and told Rosita to keep the change, earning another smile from the other woman as she handed over her bag of food. Rosita slipped the bill into the till as Beth continued to stand there, nibbling on her lower lip as her eyes scanned over the area that led into the back of the bakery.

Not sure where the question even came from or why she asked it in the first place, Beth cleared her throat again, causing Rosita to look up at her from under her lashes and expectantly arch a brow in her direction.

"Is Daryl here today?"

Rosita looked just as surprised as Beth did at her question, eyeing her up suspiciously as though she wanted to know where the question came from, too. Beth knew that it probably looked all sorts of strange - because sure, she was almost twenty one, but she knew that she had a baby face and looked about fifteen, whereas she pegged Daryl at being somewhere in his early to mid thirties. Still, though, as confused as Rosita looked, she didn't seem to be all too judgemental and nodded her head once at the younger woman.

"Yeah, he sure is. I'll just go and grab him for you," Rosita told her, closing the till with a _ping_ and quickly shuffling into the back area, closing the door behind her so that Beth was left on the shop floor of the bakery, completely alone.

Whilst Rosita went to fetch Daryl for her, Beth immediately began to panic, her grip on the fresh baguette that was wrapped up in her plastic bag deathly tight as she felt like she would begin to hyperventalate at any moment. Beth had know idea what on earth she was doing; no idea why she had even asked for Daryl in the first place, or why she hadn't bothered to tell Rosita that it didn't matter and that she would just be leaving. Beth also had absolutely no idea what she was supposed to say to Daryl and was debating whether she should quickly dash out of the store and just _run_ all the way back to the farmhouse when she heard the door to the back area opening.

Her head quickly snapped up, the baguette still clutched tightly in her hands as she watched Daryl walk out onto the shop floor of the bakery, his brow furrowed in confusion and his expression evidently unsure. Apparantly, Rosita had chosen to stay in the back area whilst Daryl came out to see Beth, and the young blonde was inwardly thankful for Rosita's decision - she sure as hell didn't need anyone else to witness how embarrassed she currently was.

Once Daryl's deep blue eyes locked on hers, his posture seemed to relax as understanding registered over his face, and Beth was slightly relieved that he at least didn't seem all that horrified to see her in his bakery. Upon noticing his now relaxed posture, Beth offered him a shy smile and waved one of her hands at him all too awkwardly, earning a nod of the head from him.

"Hi," Beth said as Daryl quirked a brow at her.

She wondered to herself whether he got visitors often.

"I was just passing by," she continued, knowing that she was probably going to start rambling on with herself, but not knowing what else she was supposed to do in that moment. "Wanted a baguette," Beth said as Daryl strolled out from where he had been stood against the door so that he was now leaning against the counter at the till. She held up the transparant bag to him as if he had wanted to see the proof of her purchase. "And I, er... I thought that I would just see whether you were working. Or not."

God, Beth wanted to slap herself.

She pondered over whether she was always this awfully awkward or whether it was just something that happened around Daryl Dixon.

All that she got as a response from him was silence, and Beth felt her cheeks begin to burn a darker shade of red as the silence between them stretched on and on. With a little sigh, Beth looked down at her feet and shook her head before looking back up at Daryl, who apparantly hadn't blinked since he had laid his eyes on her standing in his bakery.

"Anyway, I'm sorry for bothering you. I guess I'll just get going... My daddy will probably be wondering where I am."

Not sticking around to see his response (which she already had a feeling would just be more silence and confused glances), Beth quickly turned on her heel and rushed out of the bakery, cursing herself in her mind for being so _stupid._

* * *

Daryl Dixon had a habit of fucking up everything.

At least, that was what he told himself, anyway. Whether it was true or whether it was not, it was simply the way that he was - always blaming himself, always insecure in his ways. As far as Daryl was concerned, most of the shit that happened in his life was his own fault, and he just had to deal with the consequences of it all.

This time stung more than anything, though, because it was Beth Greene that he was fucking shit up with. It was obvious that he'd given the girl some sort of encouragement by making an effort to talk to her in the diner more, and he didn't even know why he was being so weird about responding to her advances, anyway, because he sure as hell enjoyed them.

But Daryl knew that he was one stupid son of a bitch and that if anyone knew how to fuck a good thing up, then it was him.

It had taken him by surprise when Rosita had walked into the office where he was sat looking over his expenses and straight up told him that he had a visitor. Nobody ever came and saw him; not when he was at home in his cabin, and most certainly not when he was at work at the bakery. Now that he thought about it, the only person who ever did come to visit him was Rick; the town sheriff, and Daryl's best friend of many years.

It was a weird relationship between the two of them - they had initially began talking one day when Rick stopped by to see if Merle was around, and their friendship had formed from there. Rick had been the one that Merle had mockingly dubbed as 'officer friendly', and his brother had been particularly negative about Daryl's friendship with the town's sheriff - especially considering the fact that Rick had, in the end, been the one to arrest Merle for the final time before he was sent to jail. As much as Merle was family, though, so was Rick, and Daryl knew that his friend was just doing his job to keep people in town safe.

Hell, Rick was doing his job to keep _Daryl_ safe, because it seemed as though most people also acknowledged that Daryl was a lot better off without his older brother; even if he wouldn't vocally admit it to anyone except himself.

But Rosita would have said if it was Rick who had stopped by because she always did - always said some teasing, smart-ass comment; calling him out on their 'bromance', as she so kindly put it. Sometimes, Daryl couldn't help but wonder to himself why on earth he had ever hired Espinosa, but he knew that at the time, he had been desperate for staff, and now she had just kind of stuck around pretty stubbornly.

Of all of the people that Daryl had ever expected to be stood in his bakery asking for him, Beth Greene hadn't even so much as crossed his mind - after all, what the hell would someone like her want from a guy like him?

Apparantly, though, Daryl had made it far too obvious that he was surprised to see her standing there. And more than anything, he had gone and fucked up by pissing her off and making her storm out of the place in such a hurry that he couldn't even find himself having the time to call out to her and tell her to wait. Once the door had shut behind her and her blonde head of hair had disappeared from his line of sight, Daryl had swore under his breath and turned on his heel, slamming the door to the back area shut behind him before he stormed off into his office, making sure to lock the door this time so that Rosita couldn't just stroll in whenever she liked.

It had taken a day or two of being embarassed at his behaviour before Daryl could even find it within him to visit the diner again. He didn't even know whether or not the youngest Greene girl would be working that night (it was another time when he found himself lay awake at gone one o'clock in the morning), but Daryl knew that he wouldn't be able to sleep that night unless he knew whether she was there or not.

He'd taken his bike that time and had revelled in the peacefulness of the traffic-free roads, enjoying the way in which he was able to get the diner from his cabin in the woods quicker than he had ever done before.

Daryl knew that his motorcylce was loud and that whoever was inside of the diner would be able to hear him coming from probably miles away, but he found that he didn't even care as he hopped off the bike. The diner's parking lot was pretty deserted, indicating to him that there would probably be barely anybody inside, and instead of just stomping his way through the place and making a beeline for his standard booth, Daryl found that he paused in the doorway of the place and allowed his eyes to scan over the whole diner, keeping an eye out for a familiar flash of blonde as he did so.

When he spotted her standing at the bar looking straight back at him, Daryl couldn't help the way in which his lips turned upwards in a small hint of a smile. Apparantly, Beth noticed it, too, because she smiled right back in his direction. Without even thinking about the booth that he always sat in, Daryl strolled straight over to the bar and sat himself down on one of the bar stools, his deep blue eyes never leaving Beth's.

There must have just been _something_ about the ungodly hour of the night that had him feeling all sorts of confident, because Daryl Dixon was most definitely never this sure of himself.

Or maybe it was just something about Beth Greene.

Still, though, Daryl continued to surprise himself by resting both of his arms on top of the surface of the bar and leaning forward ever so slightly so that he was just a little bit closer to her. The words fell out of his mouth before he could even realise what it was that he was saying to her, but he was rewarded for his boldness by a dazzling smile from Beth.

"Was jus' passing by," Daryl said to her, the hint of a smirk on his lips. "Figured I'd see if you were workin'."

Her cheeks turned a shade of pink at his teasing words, too, but it was more than obvious that the younger woman was happy with Daryl's advances. The gruff man found himself wishing that he could be like this with her all of the time; because it was certainly worth every second of it, especially if he got to see her smile at him like _that._

"That so, Mister Dixon?" Beth asked, placing a hand on her hip.

Their eye contact didn't break for a second, and Daryl wondered over whether there was even anyone else in the diner at all or whether it was just the two of them, because he sure as hell hadn't noticed when he had desperately scanned over the area in search of _her._

Daryl let out a little _mmhmm_ at her question, and Beth closed the book that she had been reading before he had entered and placed it down beside her. She looked over his appearance for another long moment before she reached out to grab a white mug from underneath the bar.

"Coffee?" Beth asked him, and Daryl nodded his head at her.

"Sure," he said with a shrug of his shoulders. "Why not?"

* * *

 **Any of you who have read my other stories will know by now that I really struggle writing from Daryl's POV, but I keep trying to push myself, especially with this story. I hope he doesn't seem too OOC here and that it looks as though things are naturally progressing over time; baring in mind that these chapters are spread out a few weeks apart as opposed to a few days, so obviously they're building up a bond between them... If that makes sense. (I know I kind of have a bad habit of rambling).  
**

 **As always, thank you so much for reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

It was Carol who noticed _them_ first.

Out of everyone in the world who Beth had ever considered that she might confide in about her crush on Daryl Dixon (although the young woman had a feeling that it - whatever 'it' was, anyway - was quickly becoming much more than just a silly crush), Carol had definitely been at the very bottom of the list.

In fact, if Beth was being completely honest with herself, she had never even considering Carol to be on that small list in the first place; at the bottom or not.

And technically, Beth didn't ever confide in Carol about her feelings for Daryl - the older woman just _knew._ Beth supposed that she should have known better, that she should have realised that it was only a matter of time before someone around her picked up on her behaviour, especially when it came to Daryl. Although Sasha had been pestering away at her for quite some time now in an attempt to try and squeeze out some details in regards to who 'the mystery man' as she so pleasantly dubbed him was, Beth found it within her to remained tight-lipped about it all. It wasn't as though the young blonde was embarrassed about her feelings for Daryl, but still, she knew that Daryl was quite a bit older than her and that even though she knew in her heart that he was a good man - how could he not be when all he did was offer her shy half smiles and nervous words? - his family name still meant that he had a reputation (of sorts) that wasn't necessarily the best.

Besides, Beth knew that more than anything, Sasha would be surprised. The truth always revealed itself, that much Beth knew, and in the same way that it was only a matter of time before someone like Carol had realised her feeling's for Daryl, it was equally only a matter of time before Beth confided in her best friend about those feelings.

At the moment, though, the most information that Beth had delivered to her best friend about her crush was that it wasn't just any old guy that had caught her eye, but rather a _man_ who had done so. Initially, Beth had thought that perhaps giving Sasha a little something in terms of a hint would help to keep her quiet and keep her occupied for the time being, but in fact, her technique had failed and simply managed to do the opposite. Her best friend's interest in Beth's crush had only been encouraged, if anything, and although Beth was certain that Sasha's excitement about it all had surely come to a peak by now, she also knew that it was all probably her own fault for giving the other girl a bit more leeway.

At least with Sasha, though, it had all been obvious since the beginning that she wanted to know who it was that Beth was interested in. When it came to Carol, things were... different.

Perhaps it was because Carol was her manager at work, or perhaps it was simply because of how much older Carol was than Beth, but either way, the woman was very quiet about everything that it seemed she had been thinking and everything that she was noticing, too. Although the two women didn't usually work many quiet shifts together - instead, Carol tended to rota them on together for the typical rushes at breakfast, lunch and dinner - Carol had pencilled herself on to work an early shift with Beth so that the pair of them started at five a.m, and the younger woman didn't think anything of it at all.

After all, it wasn't for Beth to know that her manager was actually quite friendly with Daryl Dixon.

The petite blonde could probably be forgiven for not even thinking anything much of it, either, considering the fact that hardly anybody in town was actually friendly with Daryl. As far as Beth had been aware, the only person who was remotely close to Daryl (apart from his own brother, of course) was Rick, Shane's parter and the town's sheriff. Rick was practically like another brother to the youngest Dixon, and Beth had seen them wandering around town more than enough times to know that the two of them were better than just good friends. There had been a few occasions where Rick and Daryl had strolled into the diner to come and eat together and have a beer or two; although in those cases, it had only ever been Rick who had actually let on to her with a nod of his head and a dip of his hat, very much in contrast to Daryl who had opted to just completely ignore her presence.

It had been a while since Beth had seen the two men come for anything to eat at the diner, but Beth knew well enough that that didn't really mean anything much - if at all. There had been talk that things were awkward between the two of them because of the fact that Rick had been the officer who had arrested Merle and consequently been the officer who had gotten Merle locked up for quite a long period of time, but Beth knew better than that to know that it was anything but true. Unlike Daryl, Rick had a family of his own - a wife, Lori, and two children, Carl and Judith (both of whom she had babysat quite a few times) and that he was a busy man.

Never had Beth even heard of Carol mention Daryl's name in passing, or pay much attention to him whenever he came into the diner with Rick, so Beth supposed that she really couldn't have had any reason to suspect that the two even knew of each other, never mind actually spoke.

Daryl had arrived at the diner that moning at his usual early slot and, as was typical for him, he hadn't bothered to hover around at the entrance in order to greet either of the women who were working and wait to be seated as most other customers did (even the regulars). Instead, Daryl chose to head straight over towards his booth in the corner, which, at this point, may as well have actually been reserved for him - with a sign and everything. At this time in the morning, the diner was hardly every busy at all - only a handful of customers coming in at a time, some of them hoping to beat the breakfast rush, other's just starting work a little earlier than other people tended to. Beth knew that although Dixon's bakery didn't open until eight thirty, someone had to be there to bake all of the fresh food, and since it was Daryl who arrived at the diner for breakfast every morning at such an early hour, then it was quite obvious to the young woman that it was him who tended to do that sort of stuff.

At the sight of Daryl sat in his typical booth, glancing over the laminated menu in his hands (although how he ever even had to read the thing anymore, Beth wasn't quite sure, because she was almost completely certain that he had to at least know it by heart by now, just like she did), Beth had hurried herself up cleaning over the crumbs and grease from one of the recently vacated tales before she made her way over towards him, wiping the palms of her hands on her black jeans as she did so.

"Good morning, Daryl," Beth had chimed, her voice all chirpy and happy just from the sight of him, even at this early hour.

Daryl had responded to Beth's greeting with a simple nod of his head in acknowledgement of her presence, and _goodness,_ from him, Beth thought that that may as well have been a _"hey Beth, how ya doin' this morning?"._ Just a couple of weeks ago, Daryl's lack of verbal communication with her would have had Beth feeling all sorts of nervousness and uncertainty, and even though she wasn't necessarily all that confident around him, she had learned to accept that the gruff man wasn't necessarily rude - he just really was a man of very few words.

Beth was practically beaming at Daryl as she whipped out her notepad from the back pocket of her dark skin-tight jeans, flipping the small pad open so that it fell onto a blank page (a skill that she had practiced so many times that she had practically perfected it by now) before she tugged at the pen from behind her ear, grasping it tightly in her other hand. "What can I get you to drink this morning?"

In a way that was very normal for him, Daryl shrugged his shoulders at her, but it was the way that he mumbled out a "dunno" and rubbed at one of his eyes with the back of his hand that had Beth feeling all kinds of concerned and even a little bit suspicious. The smile that had been plastered on her face at the sight of the man who occupied so much of her mind most days faltered slightly as Beth blinked several times in his direction, allowing her light blue eyes to roam over his appearance and actually take the time to take in everything about him instead of excitedly glancing over at him.

As far as Beth was concerned, Daryl Dixon _always_ looked handsome.

Rugged and unkept, yes.

Unshaven and messy, yes.

But handsome all the same.

This morning, though, Daryl looked tired - no, not tired, she decided, practically _exhausted,_ to the point where the man may as well have been dead on his feet.

It wasn't normal for Beth to see Daryl looking like this; not common for the older man to have such heavy and dark bags hanging under his droopy, half-open eyes. That, combined with the messier hair than usual and a shirt that was buttoned up all wrong, screamed at her that Daryl really was out of it. The younger woman would have probably giggled to herself at how simply adorable she found it that Daryl had buttoned his shirt up all wrong had she not actually been slightly concerned about his tired demeanor, as it was just so unlike him.

"Is everything okay with you, Daryl?" Beth asked, lowering her notepad and pen slightly as her arms fell to her sides.

Daryl tilted his head so that he was looking straight at her now with those deep blue eyes of his, and even though his bangs were still falling into his face in a way that made it practically impossible for Beth to be able to see completely into them, Beth's breathing still hitched in her throat just at the intensity of his gaze.

After a long few moments of him staring right at her, Beth's feet shifted beneath her uncomofrtably and she repeated her question.

"Are you okay?"

Finally, Daryl blinked and let out a heavy sigh.

"Yeah," he said, looking a little bit surprised that she had even asked him that before he returned his attention to the sticky menu that was now resting on the table. "Jus' tired, s'all," he explained, and Beth was still surprised about the fact that he had even answered her slightly intrusive, but innocent all the same, question in the first place, never mind actually elaborated his answer.

Unsure about what she should say to the older man in response to his statement, Beth decided to just offer him her softest smile before she cleared her throat, gaining his attention once again.

"Maybe you need... you know, a day off," Beth found herself suggesting to him, her tone all tender and gentle. Daryl didn't say anything in terms of an immediate response to her comment, but Beth did notice the way that he raised an eyebrow at her almost questioningly, silently encouraging her to continue on with what it was that she was trying to say to him. Relieved that he hadn't taken her comment the wrong way, Beth continued with more confidence than before. "It's just... You come in here every morning, around six-ish, an' I imagine that you're at work all day, too. An' you do it all pretty much every day of the week - on weekends, too - an' I just think that maybe it's time that you... You know. Had a day off."

For what could have easily been hours, silence passed between the two of them, those deep blue eyes of Daryl's boring straight into her own much lighter ones with some sort of emotion that Beth found that she just couldn't quite place. It had been a good couple of weeks now since Beth had realised that Daryl Dixon communicated with her in a way that was so different to everyone else. His communication with her was most likely never verbal, but he at least attempted to tell her his thoughts and his feelings through his body language and eye contact. There were still times though, times like these, where Beth felt as though she was still a pupil and he was still her teacher and that she still had a lot to learn from him, especially when it came to what his long gazes and lingering looks meant.

Finally, Daryl nodded his head at her once, raising a hand to rub over the scruff of a beard that rested on his chin.

"Yeah," he said to her, his voice all sorts of scratchy and rough. "Might jus' do that one day."

It wasn't much of a response.

In fact, Daryl's words were barely anything at all.

Still, though, knowing that they had actually had (another) real conversation - not just a one-sided one - when there had been a time not even all that long ago where the surly man hadn't even been able to bring himself to look at her, never mind actually open his mouth and speak to her, made Beth beam at him with a sense of pride and accomplishment.

Daryl must have had some sort of idea about why the young blonde was smiling so brightly at him because he actually returned the gesture as best he could, his lips twisting upwards ever so slightly in a way that made her heart skip several beats.

"How about some coffee to wake you up then, Mister Dixon?" Beth suggested, cocking her hip slightly as she raised up her notepad once more.

Daryl nodded his head at her as she began to scribble down the simple beginnings of his order.

"Sounds good, Greene," Daryl commented before Beth walked away, promising him the same way that she always did that she would be right back with his drink and ready to take his food order.

As the young woman walked in a straight line in the direction of the kitchen where T-Dog was busy whistling a tune to himself and cooking up the few breakfast orders, Beth found herself unintentionally adding a little bit more of a sway to her hips, a part of her hoping that Daryl's gaze was lingering on her body as she did so. There was even a part of her that felt the sudden urge to boldly turn her head over her shoulder and see whether or not he was indeed looking at her as she made her way to get his coffee, but she resisted actually going through with the action, instead choosing to fantasize about herself ever being able to be that confident around him.

After all, she was _Beth_ Greene, not Maggie; and no matter how hard or how fast she was falling for Daryl Dixon (because _yes,_ she had accepted to herself that she was most definitely falling for this gruff and quiet man), Beth was still nowhere near as brave or as daring or as simply confident and sure of herself as her older sister had always been. And maybe the action would be all sorts of flirty, and maybe it would leave even more unspoken words between the pair of them, but Beth just couldn't bring herself to do it.

She reasoned with herself that perhaps she would just save that move for another day.

It was as Beth was brewin up Daryl's coffee that Carol walked straight into the kitchen behind her, cocking a brow at the younger woman who stood silently before her in a way that made Beth feel all sorts of nervous and even slightly intimidated. Overall, Carol was a nice enough woman and Beth had actually never had a problem or an issue with her before (in contrast to several of her colleague's), however that didn't change the fact that Carol's general personality could be a little bit off-putting at times.

Sometimes, the older woman reminded her of a motherly figure, someone who was nurturing and protecting and loving towards her.

Other times, she could be quite the opposite - all cold and short and snappy.

Not knowing what to do with herself, Beth offered Carol a warm smile before asking her if she wanted her to make any coffee for any of her own customers.

"Not right now, Beth," Carol said, flashing a smile in her direction, although it was anything but genuine considering it didn't meet her cool blue eyes. "Thanks anyway, though."

Beth tried her best not to worry herself too much over her manager's strange behaviour, and instead Beth busied herself by chatting away with T-Dog about his plans for once he finished work as soon as Carol had left the kitchen (taking her icy attitude with her). Once a fresh batch of coffee had been brewed, Beth grabbed a large clean mug from the side and poured the scolding liquid into it, holding it away from her body as she left the kitchen and headed straight towards the booth where Daryl was sat.

When she had pushed open the door to the kitchen, Beth's gaze had been locked intently on the mug of coffee as she attempted to make sure that she didn't spill a drop of it on the floor around her, or even worse, all down herself. As Beth's light eyes flickered up, she completely halted in her steps when she finally noticed that Carol was stood up and leaning slightly agains the table of Daryl's booth, talking away at him - saying words that Beth couldn't quite make out from where she was stood, still some distance away from the pair. It was in the actual moment that Beth somehow found it within herself to pick up her frozen feet and start walking towards the booth once again that the kitchen door shut loudly from behind her, and Carol turned her head over her shoulder to look in Beth's direction.

There was a strange expression upon Carol's face as she watched the young blonde move closer and closer to where she was stood at the table with Daryl, and when Beth finally locked eyes with the older woman, she was quickly hit with the strong realisation in regards to why her manager was looking at her in such an unfamiliar way.

 _Carol knew._

* * *

The mug of coffee was placed down as quick as a flash in front of him, and even though he tried not to make it all too obvious, Daryl couldn't help but frown and draw his eyebrows together in confusion about how quickly Beth had taken to pulling out the notepad from her back pocket and tuggeing on the pen that was always stuck behind one of her ears. The young girl most always took her time with him; even when it was busy, and especially compared to the other customers who tended to hover around and try and keep her attention fixated on them, but now that Carol was stood here with him, it seemed as though Beth couldn't wait to be away from him fast enough.

The pretty blonde took Daryl's food order in a rushed manner and actually ended up stuttering over her words - something that she hadn't done for at least a couple of weeks now, if not months - as she explained to him that she wouldn't be too long.

Daryl may not have been any sort of expert in the art of reading women, never mind actually fucking understanding them, but he had thought that the youngest Greene girl was at least becoming more comfortable and relaxed around him. It seemed as though all of the growing confidence that he had seen within her these last few weeks had disappeared now, and Daryl naturally couldn't help himself but to wonder about what exactly it had to do with the older woman who stood slouched against the table of his booth, her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes never leaving Beth's body, watching as she scribbled down his breakfast order.

Part of Daryl wondered about whether he should tell Carol to back off and quit whatever the hell it was that she was doing to Beth as the diner's manager kept her eyes locked on the young woman as she walked away from them both, turning her head and listening to another customer who seemed to be requesting that she bring them something or other. Before he managed to get the words out of his mouth, though, Carol beat him to speaking.

"You like her," was all that she said.

It was most certainly not a question that Carol had aimed in his direction; more of a statement, actually, and Daryl was completely taken aback by it. All that he managed to bring himself to do was nod his head at her once in confirmation, thinking to himelf that there was probably no point in denying his feelings for the young girl since Carol obviously knew about them (although how the hell she had managed to figure that one out, he sure would love to know).

Besides, Daryl figured that Carol would just bust his balls about it sooner or later if he did lie about it and then she ended up figuring out that he hadn't been telling her the truth.

"She likes you too, you know," Carol then commented after a few more seconds of silence.

Refusing to make any eye contact with the older woman, even though he could practically feel her eyes as they bruned into his head whilst he picked at his fingernails, Daryl just shrugged his shoulders at her comment. He knew that his ears were burning red hot underneath his mop of hair without having to go and make eye contact with Carol whilst she chatted on about Beth and whether or not she thought that the younger woman liked him back.

He sure as hell wished that he knew when the fuck he had jumped into a damn time machine and gone and zapped himself all the way back to high school, because this sure as hell felt like he fucking had.

"Girl likes everybody," Daryl retorted after a moment of thinking to himself.

The thing was, Daryl absolutely knew what he was saying was true.

Okay, so he would kind of accept the fact that Beth Greene probably didn't actually like everybody who she crossed paths with, but the girl sure as hell was fucking nice to everybody that she met, anyway, and that was good enough for him - besides, it was practically the same sort of thing, anyway. Beth Greene was always smiling and laughing and chatting away all friendly-like with her customers; even customers like Shane Walsh, men who obviously made her feel all sorts of discomfort and unease, and Darul knew that even though she was just _different_ when it came to talking to him, that he couldn't ever think too much of it.

He couldn't do that, because Beth Greene was just a _nice girl._

Apparantly, though, Carol didn't quite agree with him on that, because the older woman snorted hell'a loud as she shook her head from side to side at him.

"You really doin' this, Daryl?" she asked, and Daryl looked at her from the corner of his eye, able to make out the way in which her thin lips had twisted upwards into a wry smile and the ways that her eyes had slightly narrowed at him.

Not quite knowing what to say back to her, Daryl just shrugged his shoulders once again, his attitude all nonchalant and uninterested, even though he was really anything but.

"I say that you should go for it."

"An' I say that you're batshit crazy," Daryl retorted, narrowing his own blue eyes as he finally flicked them up so that he was making eye contact with the older woman who had decided on fixing him with a knowing look. Letting out a frustrated huff before he spoke again, Daryl decided to mumble his words of "I say tha' you keep your nose out of it" under his breath, although he knew that she would still be able to hear him just fine.

 _"An' I_ say that you stop bein' so damn stubborn before that girl goes an' finds herself someone else to be interested in," Carol said, always one for smart-ass remarks and quick comebacks; always one who loved giving him a good kick up the ass, even when he really didn't want it, but most often when he actually needed it.

Refusing to admit that even to himself, though, Daryl just scowled straight at her.

The effect that Daryl's cold stare usually had on everone - the one where he could make people turn around and practically spring away from him, hanging their heads in defeat as they left him alone - when he looked at them the way that he was currently looking at Carol had long worn off on her. Carol knew better than anyone else (except maybe Rick) that Daryl's bark was much worse than his bite, and the grey-haired woman practically laughed at his expression in a manner that made him feel all sorts of frustrated and defeated.

"Give it up, Daryl," Carol said to him as she pushed herself from where she had been leaning against the table that he was sat at, her tone all sorts of mocking and just slightly playful. Carol's attentioned turned towards the young woman in question as she walked out from behind the kitchen door, a plate of hot food in her hands and her light blue eyes wide as she made her way straight over towards the booth in the corner of the diner.

Carol turned her head quickly towards him as she started to walk away, calling an "I mean it" over her shoulder as she did so.

When Beth arrived at his table with his food, she offered him one of her small and shy smiles before she set down his knife and fork and asked him if she could get him anything else at all. Daryl just shook his head no as he picked up his knife and fork and was about to let her just walk away from him when he noticed Carol shooting him a knowing look from where she was stood at the bar.

Trying not to think too much of it, Daryl mumbled out Beth's name just as she went to turn herself away from him, causing her to jerk herself backwards quickly so that she was facing him once again.

"Would you be able t'grab me some water?" he asked her just after he had cleared his throat.

Beth nodded her head at him several times, smiling as she breathed out an "of course!" before she went and set off in the direction of the kitchen once again, no doubt to grab him his drink as quickly as possible.

Daryl could sense that Carol was shooting daggers in his direction from where she was wiping down the surface of the bar with an old rag, but he chose to shake it off and just ignore her and her glares, telling himself that Carol didn't know shit anyway. Whether or not the older woman liked it or not, Daryl Dixon was no fucking Casanova, and he sure as hell would never be able to be anything but awkward around women; especially pretty ones like Beth who he had no business even looking at, never mind actually speaking to or trying to get to know.

But as Daryl wolfed down his breakfast, he thought on to himself about how there kind of was something different about the way that Beth Greene looked at him - a different sort of way that had Daryl accepting the fact that there probably was something more in this whole thing that was passing between them; something more than just her waiting on his table, something more than him just being a regular customer and her just being a good waitress so that she could manage to get some half-decent tips. And sure, Daryl Dixon knew that he probably wasn't Beth Greene's usual type of man, and sure, he knew that the girl was quite a few years younger than he was, but there was still something about the way that she smiled at him all bright and the way that she talked to him all sweet that had Daryl feeling all sorts of shit and thinking all sorts of shit that he would have never imagined himself doing just a couple of months back.

And naturally, Daryl wondered about whether or not his friend was actually right about it all.

It wouldn't have been the first time that the older divorcee was right about something when it came to him, and it probably wouldn't be the last, either. Still, though, Daryl figured that Carol knew Beth better than he did, and he knew in his heart that she would never encourage him to go for this the way that she had done if she honestly thought that there was a chance that Beth Greene wasn't actually interested in him.

So before he could think too much about how fucking stupid this whole thing was and about how much of a pain in the ass his good friend was, Daryl swiped a pen from Carol's pocket when she walked past his table, earning himself a very confused and yet very intrigued look from her, but thankfully Carol didn't bother to say anything about it. He grabbed a napkin from the middle of the table, sat in a pile next to the used sauce bottled and the salt and pepper, and scribbled down his name and number down onto it, leaving it face-up on the table next to his empty plate so that Beth wouldn't be able to miss it.

It may not have been the smoothest way that a man could go about getting a girl's attention, but Daryl figured that it was a lot better than doing nothing at all, which is what he had been doing these last few weeks. Daryl knew that he would never be able to be the sort of man who openly flirted with a woman with all sorts of ease and confidence, never mind be the sort of man who managed to smooth-talk a woman into going out on a date with him somewhere corny and typical, and he had a feeling that Beth Greene would have already sussed that out about him a long while ago.

Still, though, leaving her his number scrawled down on a battered napkin had to surely be some sort of start, and at least some sort of a sign of progress on his part.

At least, Daryl thought so, anyway.


	7. Chapter 7

**Not sure if anyone has paid much mind to the rating of this story, but it is rated M for future content, and I'll warn you now that this chapter has some hints towards scenes of a sexual nature, just in case that's a trigger for anyone. There's not much of it, but it is there, somewhere in the middle, so... yeah.**

 **Also just wanted to give you all a quick thanks for all the love to everyone who has favourited and followed, and an especially big thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story. You are all so supportive and kind and I honestly appreciate your kind words and suggestions so much!**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Daryl Dixon had left her his phone number.

His _phone number._

 _Daryl Dixon._

The way that Beth had felt in the moment when she had glanced down at the off-white napkin that had Daryl's rushed scrawl painted across it was something that even she couldn't describe; an emotion that the young woman knew that she would never be quite able to put into words, no matter how hard she tried to do so. It was an emotion that a term similar to 'happy' just couldn't quite describe - the words were not enough and would probably never be enough, and there was an overwhelming part of her that just wanted to scream at the top of her lungs in excitement and pure elation when her mind finally registered what those sloppily-written digits really meant.

Because he had left her his phone number.

 _Daryl Dixon._

Once she had managed to calm herself down - which was quite later on that evening, considering the young waitress had spent the rest of her entire shift walking around with more of a spring in her step and a bright grin that not even the rudest of customers could wipe from her pretty face - Beth actually allowed herself to process it all; and as she stared at the napkin that now rested on the corner of her bedside table, Beth realised that she really had no idea what she was actually going to do with Daryl's number.

It had been more than obvious to her that Daryl was shy, and painfully so, too. The man may have been older than she was, but it didn't mean that he carried himself with more sense of himself than she did. If anything, Beth thought that Daryl was probably even more shy than she ever had been, even though she considered herself to be quite a shy and introverted person.

The young blonde wasn't quite so used to all of this, though - when it came to matters involving the opposite sex, it was _never_ Beth Greene who did any of the chasing. Unlike most of her friends (who, now she really thought about it, reminded her a lot of her older sister, who had always been a lot more bold and confident than she was), Beth tended to be the type of girl who waited around for the guy to make the first move; for them to speak to her and flirt with her first, for them to contact her first, for them to ask her out.

Now, though, Beth was debating over whether or not she should stick to her ways - after all, she supposed that Daryl writing down his number on the paper napkin was practically his own way of making a first move, anyway. It had always been clear to Beth since she started waiting on him in the diner that Daryl wasn't one of the most confident men in town, even though the youngest Greene girl genuinely believed that he had more than every single reason to be, and she knew deep down that he would probably never be able to muster up the courage to actually ask for her own number face-to-face.

In a way, Beth thought that this may as well have been Daryl's attempt at asking for her details, anyway. Despite his rough exterior, the man was sweet; kind in ways that she never knew would really be possible, especially from him, and sweet, too. Chivalrous and gentlemanly in his own right, Beth already knew that Daryl was a good man, but the way that he was behaving towards her just confirmed it in her mind. To even consider the fact that there were other man who lived around these parts who were anything but sweet and gentle towards her - men like Shane Walsh, men who thought that they owned every woman in sight, men that thought they had a _right_ to all of those women... Just the thought of it knoked her sick.

But it didn't take a genius to figure out that Daryl Dixon was nothing like those other men in town.

Biting down on her lip as she tugged out her phone from her back pocket, Beth attempted to keep her hands steady as she tapped in Daryl's number into her contacts list. As she stared down at his name, Beth tried to calm her breathing down before she went for it and pressed her thumb down over his name, effectively calling him.

Her heart hammered in her chest as the phone dialled next to her ear. Beth couldn't be sure of a time when she had felt anywhere near this nervous before. The only thing that she could really compare any of it to was the interview process that she had to undergo in order to get on her social work course at University, but even that hadn't been quite as bad - after all, she had been pretty confident about it; only maybe a little nervous, considering she'd practically been told by some of the lecturers there that they had all heard amazing things about her from her tutors and that they were looking forward to teaching her.

Before Beth could work herself up anymore, the ringing of the phone ceased and she was met with the sound of a gruff voice answering her call with a raspy "hello?"

It wasn't as though they hadn't spoken before; after all, Beth had heard his voice more times than she could probably count by now. Even though he never used to properly talk to her in ways of conversation and would instead just list off his food and drink order at her, there had come a point now where Daryl and Beth would engage in friendly communications. Still, though, Beth was slightly caught off guard by the sound of his voice, and it all seemed so _real_ now - now that he was there, actually answering the phone to her, now that she was sure that she hadn't imagined any of it or misread his signals or -

"Hello?" he repeated, and Beth could practically hear him frowning down the line.

"Oh," she gasped, as though she had only just realised exactly what it was that she had done. "Oh, hello? Daryl? It's me. Beth."

It might not have been the smoothest way that she could have started the phone call with Daryl. In fact, it most definitely wasn't the way that she had imagined it in her head all afternoon as she had been taking orders and cleaning tables at the diner. Still, though, Beth supposed that it was better than nothing; and she continued to remind herself that it technically wasn't her making the first move, considering the fact that it had been Daryl who had left her his number.

Down the opposite end of the line, Daryl was quiet for a few beats before he spoke again. The sound of his voice down the phone still caused Beth's body to react immediately; goosebumps appearing all over her arms, but at least she was breathing less heavily now and her hands weren't shaking quite as violently as they had been doing previously.

"Hey, Beth," Daryl said, probably feeling - because he definitely sounded - just as awkward as she did in that moment.

Even though he couldn't see her, Beth tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear that had fallen out from her messy high pony tail. The gesture itself was a nervous habit that she had never been able to control, along with biting on her bottom lip. "I... I got your number. From the napkin. An' I... I jus' thought that I'd call you. Or somethin'."

"Yeah," Daryl said, his response limited, but his tone sounding slightly more confident, as though he was growing more sure of himself. "Well, s'why I left it, I s'pose."

Beth couldn't help herself but to giggle at his words. "I figured as much," she said, twirling some of the hair from her ponytail around her index finger as she tiptoed around her room, her eyes drifting over everything but not focusing on anything much in particular. "You could have just asked me for mine, though, you know. If... If you wanted to call me."

For what felt like an all too long time, Daryl didn't respond. Finally, the older man cleared his throat, and Beth could picture him clearly in her mind - swaying on his feet, running his hands through his unkept hair and over the scruff of his stubble in a nervous yet thoughtful manner. "Didn't know if you'd wanna..." Daryl started and then trailed off all too quickly, his words filled with self-doubt.

Her cheeks tinted red as Beth conemplated telling him about just how much she would have enjoyed him asking her for her number, but she resisted the urge. In the same way that he wasn't the type of guy who would be that straight-up and forward with her that he would ask her for her number, Beth wasn't the type of girl who would be bold enough to tell him that she would have loved for him to have asked her in the first place.

"Of course I'd want to," Beth breathed, her voice low and slightly hushed. "I... So, I guess you gave me your number for a reason, huh?"

Daryl chuckled, the sound vibrating down the line and causing her to smile, too.

"Yeah, guess I did," Daryl said back to her. "I, er..." The sound of loud banging from Daryl's end of the line caused Beth to jump slightly, her fingers grasping tightly to the corner of the wooden desk that sat in front of the bay window of her bedroom so that she didn't stumble and fall from the shock. "Shit," Daryl cursed under his breath, and Beth could hear what sounded like him fiddling with a lock of a door. "Beth, I gotta go. I'll, er... I'll call you back, or I'll give you a text later on, a'right?"

Beth blinked several times as she stared out of her window, more than just slightly caught off guard by the abrupt ending of the phone call. "Yeah," she found herself saying, nodding her head up and down. "Yeah, that's fine. I'll speak to you later, Daryl."

With that, the call ended, and Beth found herself frowning down at the phone in her hands for a few seconds afterwards. The young woman was instantly curious about what on earth was going on at where Daryl currently was - whether it was at his home or somewhere else - that had to have him end the call in such a strange manner.

Reminding herself that it really wasn't any of her business anyway, Beth locked her phone and placed it down on her desk before she grabbed a towel and made her way out of her room towards the bathroom, thinking to herself about how a relaxing hot shower might occupy her mind long enough to distract her from thoughts of Daryl Dixon - at least for a while, anyway.

. . .

In all honesty, the boiling water of the shower hadn't done much to distract her from her wandering thoughts of the youngest Dixon brother. In fact, those sorts of thoughts had been more encouraged than anything, although Beth thought that she had done quite well for herself in pushing them as far away as she possibly could.

Having a reputation of being the town's good girl came with certain expectations about behaviour, and even though Beth had played around and had two boyfriends - Zach and Jimmy - she had been much younger when she had been in both of those relationships and nothing had ever gone any further than kissing. To his credit, Jimmy had never pushed her or tried to get her to go any further - if anything, he had been the deer caught in headlights, the one with the shy hands and the nervous smile.

When Beth had been in a relationship with Zach, the two of them had both been a few years older at seventeen, but Beth had still been reserved and shy whilst Zach had been much more confident and sure of himself. His hands had wandered a few times, but never had Beth allowed them to move too further south and she had most definitely never allowed him to touch her underneath her clothes.

The young woman was older now, though; and even though she was still very much a virgin at almost twenty one, Beth wasn't necessarily embarassed about it. She could only imagine the sort of experience that a man like Daryl had with women - after all, his own reputation was a lot different from hers, and although she was definitely no expert on his sex life, she had a feeling that he was quite far from the innocent virgin that she was.

There had been the odd few times when Beth had been overcome with an urge to _try_ something new on herself - to allow her own hands to wander and explore in the way that Zach had wanted to, but she had never allowed him to. In all honesty, she never really allowed herself, either.

Part of her supposed that it was probably something psychological; something in her mind when she thought about the fact that she was lay in her bed, sure, but in her parent's farmhouse... when her mama and daddy were _always_ home. It was all sorts of awkward and humiliating, and even though she had attempted to bring herself some relief on several occasions, she'd never managed to quite get there.

It could be frustrating at times, especially when most of her friends were anything but as innocent as she was and often acted as though she was seriously missing out on something amazing. As much as she wanted to try, though, the sensations always seemed to just feel too intense to be able to continue, and she had built up a somewhat irrational fear that she would be interrupted and -

"Bethy?"

\- humiliated (because her parents had an awful habit of just walking into her room without even knocking on her bedroom door).

"In here," Beth called as her mama peeped her head around her bedroom door, her light eyes roaming over Beth's form as the young woman painted her toenails on her bedroom floor. Beth looked up and locked eyes with her mother, offering her a small smile before concentrating on the task at hand. "What's up?"

Annette pushed the door open some more and stepped inside of Beth's room, glancing over the expanse of it as though she expected someone else - or maybe just something else in general - to be in there with her daughter. "I was just checkin' in on you," her mother said, leaning one of her outstretched arms on the doorframe and resting her other on her hip. "How was work today?"

The sound of her phone vibrating from where it sat on the desk by her bay window caused both Beth and Annette to turn their attention towards it. Beth eyed her mother nervously, part of her wondering to herself whether it was obvious to Annette that her heart was pounding in her chest faster than it had been before and that her fingers were beginning to twitch, curiosity over whether it was Daryl who was texting her like he said that he would do. Apparantly her reaction couldn't have been all that obvious because Annette disregarded of the vibrating phone quite easily.

Beth swallowed before she answered her mother's question. "It was okay," she said with a shrug of her shoulders before she twisted the lid of the polish back on the bottle.

"How's management life treatin' ya?" her mama teased, causing Beth to roll her eyes as she pushed herself up onto her feet.

"Not too bad," Beth responded, trying her best not to be rude or ignorant towards Annette, even as she edged herself around her bed and towards the desk where her phone was. "I'm tryin' not to put too much stress on myself. Jus' keep thinkin' about goin' back to college in the fall..."

"Your last year," Annette said, and Beth nodded her head up and down. "Well, I'm glad you're not puttin' too much of yourself into this job o' yours. Don't wanna end up stuck in the diner for the rest of your life." As always, Annette was right - Beth had always wanted to stay in this little town, the place that she was born and the place that she had been raised, but she was always more than just a little bit worried that staying here would mean that all she could do was work some dead-end job.

Beth's degree in social work should mean that she could actually go on to be a social worker; not just someone who worked at the diner, or even at the daycare center in town. As far as Beth was aware, not many social workers hung around this area, although she wanted to change that - after all, it might be good for the sorts of children who were more than obviously neglected on the poorer side of town. There were a few trailer parks around the area and Beth knew from her classes just how under-privelliged the children who were brought up in those homes could be, and even though she knew better than to assume that all unwealthy families were neglectful towards their offspring, she also knew not to be naive enough to believe that everyone in this world was selfless and kind, especially towards their children.

"Yeah," Beth said, agreeing with her mother. "Don't think the diner uniform suits me all too well, anyway," she joked, smiling brightly as she picked up her phone and saw that it had indeed been Daryl who had sent her a message.

Annette chuckled at her daughter's statement. "Always said it washed y'out," she grinned, shaking her head as she went to step out of the room, holding onto the doorknob as she did so. "I'm gonna jump into bed, anyway, Bethy. I'll see y'in the mornin'."

"Night, mama," Beth called after her, waiting until she had shut the door behind her until she unlocked her phone in a rush, her eyes scanning over Daryl's message several times.

 _\- Sorry about earlier. Will speak to you soon. Night Beth._

Biting down on her lower lip, Beth locked her phone and clutched it tightly to her chest, deciding to herself that she probably wouldn't respond to Daryl's message - after all, there wasn't much for her to say back to him, and she would probably see him at work in the morning, anyway.

Recently, her dreams had been more often than not filled with images of Daryl Dixon - and tonight was definitely no different. In fact, tonight was probably the worst that it had ever been; her dreams so clear that she could have practically sworn that they were memories and they were real, not just vague and extreme imaginings from her mind.

* * *

"Good morning, Mister Dixon."

It wasn't a rare occurance for Daryl to wonder how on earth Beth constantly managed to be so damn cheerful all of the fucking time, especially at this ungodly hour of the morning. Just her presence in general could usually put him in a pretty good mood, but after the shit that he had dealt with last night, Daryl had a feeling that even flirting with Beth Greene wouldn't be able to perk him up today.

And he sure as hell didn't want to go giving her the wrong idea; all mixed signals now that he had given her his number just yesterday morning (was that really just yesterday? 'cause it sure as hell felt like it was a lot longer than that) but then he was being all cold and distant with her now. Daryl knew that he was probably being a jackass as he mumbled off his breakfast order at her, not even trying to entertain her flirty comments and bright smiles as she scribbled down his order, but he thought that today of all days, he could behave like the asshole everyone else knew that he was.

After all, that's all he was - just a dumbass redneck with an even bigger asshole for a brother. And now his big asshole of a brother had gone and got himself let out of jail early on good behaviour (although Daryl was genuinely confused and a little gobsmacked about how the fuck Merle had managed to swing that one) and had turned up on his doorstep, banging all loud and hollerin' about how he was finally home and about how bad he needed a drink.

It wasn't Beth's fault - hell, the girl never seemed to do anything wrong to anyone, never mind to him. It sure as hell wasn't her business about what was going on with his brother, but at the same time, Daryl suddenly felt as though he needed to tell her what was going on and give her some sort of idea about why he was acting the way that he was.

Even without an explanation on his part, though, Beth Greene was a goddamned nice girl and she was still fucking smiling at him all shy-like and batting her eyes as she tiptoed over to him almost tentatively. The plate of food that she was carrying was sat down straight in front of him along with a knife and fork, and Beth informed him that she would be right back with a fresh glass of water for him. Daryl just nodded his head at her slightly dismissively before he began to tuck into his food.

It really didn't take Beth all that long to come back with his water, and she set it down on the table in front of him carefully, making sure that not a drop of the liquid spilled anywhere. With a soft smile, the young blonde straightened her body back up and wiped the flat of her palms on the back of her jeans before quirking a brow at him.

"Anything else that I can get for you?" she asked, and Daryl just shook his head, his mouth filled with food.

"Nah," he said, seeming to surprise her with an actual verbal response on his part. Today he had been quite cut-off, choosing to grunt and huff and nod or shake his head more than actually say anything at all of any substance, but he tried giving himself a good kick up the ass; imagining to himself what Carol would have to say to him if she found out how rude he was being to the poor girl who had really done nothing wrong to him at all. If anything, all Beth Greene had ever done was be nice to him, and as much as he was bewildered about why the hell she would want his attention out of all of the guys in town, Daryl knew deep down that she was too good of a person to push away.

"Know I'm a dick," he mumbled after he had swallowed down his food. Not saying anything at all, Beth just blinked down at him, her facial expression quite blank and not giving much of anything away at all. "S'jus'... Load'a shit at home. I'll call you later though, a'right?"

Daryl had actually surprised himself by offering Beth the best form of an apology that his tongue could muster up; never mind the fact that he had even talked on and actually gave her the hint of an explanation for his crappy attitude and rude behaviour, along with a sort-of promise about speaking to her later on. If Beth was surprised too (which she probably was, considering the fact that he was, too) then she didn't show it at all. If anything, she was evidently grateful that he had actually tried, and Daryl was rewarded for stepping outside of his comfort zone with a dazzling grin from her and the sight of her cheeks turning pink under his intense gaze.

"That sounds perfect, Daryl," Beth told him, her tone all soft and sweet, like she was sighing, but not quite. Tucking a loose strand of blonde hair behind her ear, Beth offered him one last lingering look before she walked away, busying herself with a new customer who had just walked through the door.

Daryl couldn't help himself but to watch her as she walked off towards the front entrance of the diner and even more so as he saw her greet the couple who had apparantly come down for an early breakfast. Just like she was with everyone else, Beth was all happy smiles and cheerful laughter as she seated the man and the woman down at a booth close to the kitchen, and he could vaguely make out the sound of her listing off the recommended meals of choice at the early hour that it was.

And even though Daryl Dixon had never been too much of a confident man, he knew for sure that the smiles and the laughs that Beth was giving to those people were different - a _lot_ different - to the ones that she always gave to him. And even though Daryl knew that he had a long way to go when it came to plucking up the courage to ask the beautiful waitress out on a date, he knew that just by watching how she was with everyone else who walked in this damned place that she felt something for him, too - something that would more than likely leave her almost definitely saying yes to whatever it was that he decided he wanted to ask her to do.

Once he was finished with his meal, Daryl pulled out a twenty from his wallet and left it on the table of the booth, not bothering to wait around for the cheque - he knew that his meal probably wouldn't be more than six or seven bucks, tops, and then he would be happy for Beth to keep the change. The time was ticking on and if Daryl didn't hurry his ass up, he'd be late to open up shop with Abraham, but the look in Beth's eyes when she turned her head over her shoulder as she scrubbed down on one of the vacant tables to watch him leave had him feeling all sorts of flustered and distracted.

Daryl stared straight at her for a long moment as he pulled on his leather vest, knowing full well that these long looks and lingering glances that they shared with each other were quickly spiralling into something out of his control. Once the vest was firmly wrapped onto his body, Daryl chose to just offer Beth a nod of his head before he walked straight out of the door to the diner, the bell above it chiming as he did so, and Daryl mustered up just enough self control to not turn around and see whether she was watching him as he made his way towards his truck.

The whole way to work, all that Daryl could think about was those big baby blue eyes of Beth's, and he knew before he even started his shift that today was going to be one hell of a long day.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading & please review!**


	8. Chapter 8

It wasn't all that often that Beth worked a different shift.

Sometimes, Carol asked if it would be alright to put her down to work the odd night shift here and there because someone else who usually did that shift needed to be somewhere else or do something else or generally just had to cover another shift for somebody, which mean that the late shift was being left without any cover, too.

That was because more often than not, it was the male members of staff who Carol wrote in on the rota to work the night shift at the store - _"for practical reasons",_ Carol always said if anybody questioned it. The manager of the diner would spit out those three words and press her lips into a straight thin line and arch her eyebrows ever so slightly, but just enough to make whoever it was that was questioning her way of organising shifts back off from her.

Although Beth had never known Carol during the period of time where she was married to her ex-husband, Ed, who had abused her quite badly (Beth had only been a child at that point in time, and it had been long before Carol had set up her own business at the diner), the younger woman had heard more than enough stories about her manager and about how her life used to be before the father of her child was locked away in a prison cell for attempted murder. Even though Beth could never quite picture any of it in her head - after all, Carol just seemed so strong nowadays, Beth could never imagine her allowing anyone to manipulate her, never mind lay a finger on her - she understood that it most definitely did happen.

After all, the people who lived in this little town in the middle of nowhere of Georgia might have been gossips, but Beth always told herself that they weren't necessarily malicious or anything close to evil, and they definitely wouldn't make up such horrible lies about a person. Everyone else in town seemed to know about Carol's story, too, although not everybody felt sorry for the older woman. Still, though, the staff at the diner respected her enough and everyone there - including Beth - understood what it was that Carol was saying without her actually going out of her way to say it when she gave her blunt and simple explanation for why she didn't like putting her female staff in to work the late shift.

Instead, the typical hours that Beth worked tended to rotate around the morning and the lunchtime rush. The young blonde would usually arrive at work somewhere around five o'clock in the morning and she would end up clocking off from her shift at about two thirty or three in the afternoon, depending on how busy the diner still was and how many other staff members were working that day. Other people tended to work the rush that came later on, between six and nine, and those people would usually start work somewhere around one or two; and sometimes, if the lunchtime rush had been quieter than usual, then Carol would sometimes allow Beth to leave work a little bit earlier, but that didn't happen all that often.

So it was that the morning shift was known as Beth's shift; especially now that she was classed as a Supervisor at the diner. Some of the staff (mostly T-Dog, although some of the others had started mimicking him, too) had started calling her 'boss' in a teasing manner, and every time anybody said it to her, Beth couldn't help but blush and dip her head because no matter what, she knew that she would never be able to manage as well as her superior did. Carol was definitely more cut out for a mangement role in this type of work setting; the older woman may have had a kind heart and even a soft soul, but she still had a hard enough exterior that some people couldn't see past, and she also held a very no-nonsense attitude. In short, the older woman didn't ley anybody give her much hassle about anything - not her customers, and most definitely not her staff. As far as Carol was concerned, it was her diner and therefore her rules, too - _"what I say, goes,"_ she often told anybody who turned their nose up at her management style.

As much as Beth admired her manager for being so strong minded and hard working, too, she also knew that she would never be able to be anything even close to how Carol was.

That day, Beth had been put on the dinner time shift - a shift that she very rarely worked at all - because Tara had broken her ankle and got herself a doctor's note for the next two weeks explaining that she wouldn't be able to work for at least that short period of time. Unsurprisingly, Carol wasn't all too happy about it, but ever the optimist, Beth tried to reason with herself (and everybody else) that so long as they all worked together, then they would be able to get themselves through the next fourteen days.

It was strange not seeing Daryl, though, although Beth had already spoken to him on the phone the night before considering he had called her, just like he had promised he would. It had only been a very brief conversation, but he had called nonetheless, and Beth had explained to him how she wouldn't be working the next morning because she was covering Tara's shift later on. At the news, Daryl had seemed a little bit taken off guard, but the young blonde knew that it was because he was probably so used to seeing her serving him in the morning's.

The sound of the bell that hung just above the entrance door of the diner ringing loudly caught Beth's attention just as she was coming out of the kitchen, heading in the direction of one of the tables (that was thankfully close enough to her so that she didn't have to walk too far) that she was waiting on, balancing five red hot plates of food across her palms and her lower arms. Beth turned her head over her shoulder at the sound of the bell ringing, instinctively plastering on a wide smile across her pretty face as soon as she heard the bell, and she opened her mouth to greet the two customers who had just strolled through the door when she realised that she wouldn't even get chance to do just that.

Because of how busy it got during the dinner time rush (which was somehow even more hectic than the breakfast and lunch time rush combined), Beth had placed out a tall sign by the front reception area of the diner that read _'please wait here to be seated' _in bright yellow lettering across a baby pink background. Apparantly, though, her new customers - a tall, broad man with a bald head and bright blue eyes and a tanned, shorter, dark featured man who stood behind him - had other ideas; choosing to completely ignore both her presence and the sign that stood proudly in front of them and instead made their way over to a booth on the opposite side of the diner that was free. Just the way that they strolled across the open floor of the diner had Beth feeling all sorts of frustrated and intimidated at the same time, but she tried to push those thoughts away, reminding herself of how it wasn't very good of her to judge these two men who were complete strangers to her.

Besides, they really might have just missed the sign completely and assumed that this was the sort of place where they just seated themselves... Even when the eatery was practically heaving with customers.

Thankfully, Beth wasn't working alone during the busy hour, and one of the other waitresses who she was working with - a girl who was a similar age to herself, Amy - was stood over at the bar area of the diner pouring a drink for a man who was sat on one of the stools in front of her. At the sight of the two men bouncing across the floor of the diner without being guided by Beth or another waitress, the other young woman immediately turned her attention straight over to where Beth was stood frozen on the spot near the entrance of the diner, a dumbfounded expression still on her face.

After a few seconds of blinking in the direction that the men had walked towards, Beth allowed her own light blue eyes to meet with Amy's across the way. Beth returned Amy's nervous and worried expression, but tried her best to quickly put the rude behaviour of her new customers behind her and instead busied herself by making her way over to where the other customers were patiently waiting to be served their food of choice that had been freshly prepared by T-Dog.

Once Beth had finished off the next food order, she silently accepted to herself that she had probably put off serving the two new customers for as long as she really possibly could, reluctantly carrying herself over in their direction. The young blonde had already pulled out her notepad from the back pocket of her light blue jeans and had the pen ready in her hand instead of where it was usually resting behind hear ear, already holding it against the paper before she even reached the booth that the men were sat in so that she would be ready to jot down their orders at a seconds notice.

Beth was most certainly not in any sort of mood to wait around and chat with these two men. Goodness, even if she actually wanted to really have much of a conversation with any of her customers, the diner was much too busy for that - crammed with plenty of hungry customers; most of whom were becoming ratty and all sorts of agitated about how long they had been waiting for their food to come out from the kitchen - and although Beth kept reminding herself about how she shouldn't judge anybody that she wasn't familiar with, the sleezy looks that the Latin looking man was throwing her from where he sat back in the booth and the broad, unnerving smile that the bald man was sending her way as she walked over to their table was more than enough to make the young waitress shudder inadvertedly.

Before Beth could even open her mouth, the bald man beat her to it, crooning a "hey there, sweet cheeks" as she reached the table that the two men were sat at. Resisting the strong urge to roll her eyes (especially when the dark haired man let out a low chuckle at his companions comment), Beth simply grit her teeth down through her smile and instead jutted out her chin a little bit further, the action only small, but still significant enough to make an impact.

At least, Beth thought it would be, anyway.

"What can I get you two gentlemen to eat today?" Beth asked politely, her pen pressed against the paper as she waited for the two of them to list off their food orders to her.

Unfortunately, the bald man seemed to have quite the mouth on him. Beth wondered about whether or not he was picking up on how she was behaving a lot colder to him and his friend than she was doing to all of the other customers in the diner or whether he really just wanted to get on her nerves and wind her up.

"We ain't no _gentlemen,_ " he pracitcally spat, pulling a disgusted expression as the word rolled from his tongue, his tone filled with hatred.

Quirkind a brow, Beth didn't miss the agreement from the Latin man - _"sure as hell ain't" -_ and the nod of his head, too.

Never one to know how to react in these sorts of awkward situations, Beth decided to just nod her own head, too. "Oh-kay," she drawled out, bringing her attention back to her notepad as her light eyes widened slightly. "So, what can I get you two to eat?"

This time, she made sure to leave the word 'gentlemen' out of her question.

"Jus' whip me up the double decker burger. Sound good 'nough for me. But you can gimme an extra lot o' fries with that."

"Same here."

Not wanting to continue to stand by the table that they were sat at for even half a second longer, Beth wasted absolutely no time in writing down their orders as quickly as she could, double checking whether either of the men would like a drink with their food before she left them alone once again. Both of the men spoke up at once - "a beer", they both requested - which actually wasn't much of a surprise to Beth, even though she had a feeling that they had driven themselves to the diner just like most other people in town did.

Once she had written down their drink orders too, Beth shoved her notepad in the back pocket of her jeans and moved quickly away from their table, trying her best to ignore the way that the two men laughed so loudly to each other as they watched her stalk towards the bar quicker than she had ever done before.

Beth's light blue eyes had been locked on Amy's as she approached the bar, squeezing behind it so that she stood alongside her colleague before she reached down into one of the fridges so that she could grab two beers for the men's drink orders. Once she had straightened herself back upright, Amy shot Beth a nervous glance, edging her body impossibly closer towards the smaller blode as she spoke in a low and hushed voice, as though the two men could hear the girls from all the way across the diner.

"Are you okay?" Amy asked Beth, her own blue eyes dancing across the other girls features, her facial expression showing all of the genuine concern that she felt towards Beth in that moment.

Thankful to be working with someone who would definitely keep an eye out for her, Beth nodded her head up and down as she popped open the lids of both the bottles of beer with a bottle opener, a skill that she had perfected years before. "Yeah," she nodded, her eyes never leaving Amy's, even as she worked the bottles open. "I'm fine."

"What did they say to you?" Amy probed, her eyebrows knotted together as Beth placed the bottle opener back down on the counter of the bar.

Beth just shrugged her shoulders at Amy as she gripped onto the bottom of the glass bottles. "Nothin' much," she said, her tone equally as hushed as Amy's was. "They jus' keep lookin' at me real funny. Reckon they want me to feel all awkward around 'em."

Amy nodded her head in understanding and offered Beth a sympathetic look. "They sure are creepy, huh," she murmured, chancing a look over her shoulder at the two men in question. It just so happened that the pair of them were staring straight back over to where the two young women were stood at the bar, and Amy snapped her head around so that she was facing Beth much quicker than she seemed to expect to, looking slightly pained at the motion. Part of Beth was surprised that her colleague didn't have whiplash from the speed of her move. "Sure as hell don't even know why anyone let _him_ outta prison early."

Beth furrowed her eyebrows at Amy's comment as she picked up the bottles of beer from the counter, holding them close towards her chest as she made her way around Amy so that she was ready to walk back over towards the two men who were waiting for their drinks. "Who?"

It was now Amy's turn to offer Beth a confused expression, her own eyebrows knotting together, the slight hint of disbelief in her tone as she spoke. "Merle Dixon," Amy explained after a few seconds of blinking at Beth as though she had just said the most stupid thing that Amy had ever heard in her life. "Who else?"

.

.

.

"I'm sorry."

Everything was dark as Beth stared straight at the ceiling of her bedroom, rubbing one of her closed eyes with the back of her knuckles as she stifled the urge to yawn loudly the second that she opened her mouth. Despite the late hour, Beth still didn't want to sound too rude over the phone.

"You're sorry?" Beth asked, knowing that her confusion was more than evident in her tone. Her tiredness probably was, too - her voice was never this croaky excepte for when she was half-asleep, even though she had already cleared her throat before she had answered the call.

"Yeah," Daryl's deep voice came through the speaker, sounding all sorts of exhausted too as he let out a heavy sigh. In her mind, Beth could practically picture him sitting right in front of her, and at the weary sound of him sighing, Beth couldn't help but wish that he really was there so that she could comfort him in some way - goodness knows that the man looked like he needed a good cuddle most of the time. "Know tha' my brother came in the diner tonight. Wha'ever it was tha' he said to you... I'm jus' sorry."

Unable to help herself from doing anything but, Beth let a little giggle escape from her lips. "Oh," she breathed after a moment of silence, the realisation of what it was that was going on in Daryl's mind that had caused him to call her at this late hour taking over her now that she had woken up a little more. "Oh, Daryl. Don't worry about it."

"Nah," Daryl said, and Beth could imagine him shaking his head defiantly in her mind. "I know he's a dick, Beth. Don't even wanna know half o' what he's said to you, but -"

" - Honestly, Daryl, Merle wasn't even all that bad. He was jus' teasin me, s'all."

And _yes,_ Merle Dixon (along with his friend, who she had later learned was known as Martinez) had compeltely creeped her out today. And _yes,_ it had been quite a surprise to Beth that Merle and Daryl were even related; because whilst she had heard her fair share of stories about the bald headed bold man, Beth had never actually seen him in person, so she had never been able to put a face to the name. In ways, Merle wasn't what she was expecting at all, but in others, he was everything that she had expected, too.

Beth wasn't a horrible person, though, and she knew better than to assume that Daryl was anything like his older brother. In fact, even though she didn't know him all that well, she knew that he was the complete opposite of Merle, and for that, she was glad. Beth knew that Merle's behaviour was anything but Daryl's fault, and the older man really did have absolutely nothing to apologise to her for - after all, Merle hadn't even done (or said) anything that was _that_ offensive; he had just dubbed her with some strange nicknames and flirted with her a little too openly for her liking, is all.

"Sorry that I woke you," Daryl mumbled after a few moments of silence, and his next apology caused a small smile to spread out across Beth's lips.

"It's OK, Daryl," Beth said, her tone gentle as her eyelids fluttered shut. "I don't mind."

It was quiet for another few seconds after that, Daryl seeming to be quite unsure of what it was that he should say next to her, and if Beth was completely honest with herself, she was equally just as unsure as he was. Apparantly, though, all it took was a little bit of silence on his end and her mouth had opened once more, making the phone call all sorts of even more awkward for the pair of them as the words just slipped past her lips. "I like talkin' to you," Beth said to Daryl, not even realising what it was that she was saying until she had already said it.

From that moment on, Beth couldn't even hear the sound of Daryl breathing for a good ten seconds or so, and Beth instantly began to blush as soon as she heard him let out a shaky breath from down the line. It wasn't much longer that he was on the phone to her for before he was informing her that he would have to go, mumbling out a rushed goodbye before he hung up the phone.

It was difficult to find sleep again after their phone call, and Beth tried her hardest not to take the abrupt ending to their late-night chat too much to heart. In her mind, Beth reminded herself over and over again that it had been Daryl who had called her in the first place, not the other way round. There had been absolutely nothing at all forcing him to make an effort to have a conversation with her, and Beth supposed that she could easily forgive the older man for simply being a little bit shy and unsure around her.

Besides, Beth would much rather Daryl continued to behave the way that he was doing as opposed to the way that his brother had been doing earlier on that evening.

* * *

Beth Greene sure as hell was something else.

Daryl didn't need to be a genius to figure that out; hell, he didn't even need to know her much at all to know that about Beth. She was sweet as sugar - always smiling and laughing and just being nice - and she was damn pretty, too; and Daryl had told himself the first time that he had seen her (and several times since, too) that he was looking straight at the most beautiful woman in the whole of Georgia - fuck, probably even the whole of America - when she was around.

He wasn't the only one to notice Beth's beauty; he knew it already - could tell whenever anyone looked at her. Not just men, but women, too. Everyone seemed to be aware of Beth's beauty, aware of her amazing personality. People seemed to notice the way that she lit up whatever room it was that she was in and could sense how she was able to pick up even the most miserable person's bad mood.

Apparantly, his brother had noticed that about her, too.

It had been Merle's low whistle when he made himself comfortable on Daryl's couch and the sound of him slapping his hand against his stomach (quite loudly, too) that had initially caught Daryl's attention. He had made his way out from where he had been stood chopping up some of the meat in the kitchen and had stood in the doorway between the kitchen and the living room, squinting his eyes at his brother who had made himself more than at home in Daryl's cabin, his legs spread out wide and the television remote resting snugly in his palm.

"You hang round that diner on the side o' town much?" Merle asked him, glancing over at his younger brother from where he sat comfortably on the couch.

Merle had never been one to beat around the bush about something - he was always loud and clear about what it was that he was thinking, not bothered whether his opinion was wanted or valued or even noticed at all. As soon as Merle just mentioned the diner that Beth worked at, Daryl was instantly worried about where it was that his brother was going with this, and he had a feeling that he already knew what Merle was going to say before he opened his mouth.

Daryl had just shrugged his shoulders at Merle's question, knowing that his throat was far too dry for him to even give his brother a verbal answer. Merle was used to Daryl's silence - the man knew him better than anyone else did, and his brother practically expected silence from Daryl at this point.

"Better start swingin' by that joint more often, baby brother. Got some sweet ass piece workin' there."

Mumbling out a string of curses under his breath, Daryl stomped back into the kitchen, trying his best not to think too much about Merle bothering Beth at the diner.

Merle seemed to have other ideas, though, and Daryl held his eyes shut for a few seconds as he listened to the sound of the floorboards creaking underneath Merle's weight as his older brother made his way through the small living room of the house and straight into the kitchen. From the sound of things, Daryl would guess that Merle was cracking his neck as he wandered off further into the kitchen, beginning to rummage around in the cupboards as though he was actually looking for something useful. Merle didn't have to ask for any food - he usually just knew that Daryl would make it for him - but Daryl had barely enough food in the house for himself tonight, never mind his brother, too.

Besides, as far as Daryl was concerned, it would seem as though Merle had already eaten his dinner at the diner, anyway.

Merle didn't bring Beth up again for a little while longer. It was once Daryl had finished his food and cleaned his plate, ready to sit himself down and watch some television (thinking to himself about how much he would rather be alone in that moment instead of with his half-drunk brother for company) when Merle started banging on about how much of a pussy Daryl was, cooking for himself.

"Gotta getcha self down to that diner, Darylina," Merle grinned, shaking his head once before taking a long sip of his beer.

From where he sat on the opposite couch, Daryl just lifted a brow in response to his brother before he returned his attention to the television - some crappy news programme - and pretended to be completely enthralled by what the reporter was saying. Unfortunately, though, it seemed as though his brother was a lot louder than the television set; and whilst part of him thought about how easy it would be to just turn up the volume so that it was on full, Daryl also knew that any change in his normal reserved and quiet behaviour would give Merle all of the ammunition he needed to go in on his younger brother.

Besides, Daryl already had a feeling that Merle knew what he was doing; he knew that Merle had probably guessed that Daryl didn't cook for himself every single day, especially when he was running his own business and practically working seven days a week. Merle might have been a dumbass, but he wasn't necessarily stupid - not when it came to things that mattered to him, anyway; especially not his little brother of all people. As much as Daryl hated to accept it, Merle was just as observant as he was, and the way that his older brother was badgering on about _"that hot little waitress",_ Daryl had a feeling that he knew exactly what it was that he was saying.

Hell, if Daryl didn't know any better, he'd say that Merle was trying to get a rise out of him - trying to provoke some sort of reaction from his younger brother in an attempt to gauge him out and see what was going on. Merle hadn't mentioned who it was that he went to the diner with (if he even went with anyone at all), and if Daryl had to guess about anyone, he would have put his money on Merle's old 'co-worker', Martinez.

Now, Caesar Martinez was an alright guy. Nowhere near as messed up as Merle, and nowhere near as full of himself, either; but the guy was still an asshole when he wanted to be, and he was still a dealer, too. As far as Daryl was concerned, Martinez was as bad as Merle as Merle was for Martinez, and the two of them together could only mean one thing: trouble. The idea of the two of them in the diner made Daryl's stomach churn, and he could already imagine the sort of shit that the pair of them were saying to Beth. Probably giving the poor girl the creeps, making her run off, practically scared for her life.

Daryl had seen it happen before to girls who were nowhere near as fucking pretty as Beth Greene, and unfortunately for Beth, Merle sure did like the pretty ones.

"Sure that blonde waitress will cook you up somethin' good. Much better than that crap you've been livin' off."

Not knowing what else to do, Daryl just nodded his head at his brother, not even turning his attention from the television screen, his eyes still locked straight on it. From the corner of his eye, Daryl could see that Merle had cocked his head to one side and was frowning at him from where he was sat on the opposite couch.

"Somethin' you wanna tell me, Darylina?"

 _Shit._

Daryl looked over at Merle then, arching one of his eyebrows slightly and narrowing his own eyes right back at Merle.

"Wha' you talkin' 'bout?" Daryl asked, his brow still arched.

Part of him had thought that he had been caught out - maybe someone had mentioned something to Merle about him coming to the fucking diner all of the time and being served by Beth just about always and how much he seemed to have taken to her - but then Merle was grinning like a god damned cheshire cat, and Daryl just knew that his asshole of a brother was winding him up something awful.

"Dunno, baby brother. All's I'm sayin' is you don't seem too interested in this hot new waitress they got workin' at the diner. Was jus' thinkin' how you might be a fa-"

"Don't even go there, Merle," Daryl grumbled, cutting his brother off completely. Without saying another word, Daryl pushed himself up from where he was sat on the couch and stormed off to his room, slamming the bedroom door a little too loudly behind him. From the living room, Daryl could still hear Merle laughing loudly to himself, and as much as he tried to get himself to sleep, he just _couldn't._

It was about half an hour, maybe forty five minutes later, when Daryl finally pulled out his phone from the front pocket of his jeans (which, along with his socks and his plain black tee, had been thrown into a heap by his bedroom door) and hovered his thumb over her number for a few seconds before he finally decided to call her. He knew that it was late at night and if he had to guess, then he would say that Beth was probably asleep already, but he had an awful feeling that his brother had pretty much royally fucked up all of the chances that he had with her, and the least he wanted to do was apologise to the poor girl for whatever the fuck it was that Merle had been saying to her.

Sweet as always, though, Beth didn't have any of his apology - kept on telling him how Merle wasn't even that bad and that it was fine.

Daryl wasn't an idiot; he knew that when it came to Merle, things were always anything but fine, but he couldn't bring himself to argue with Beth Greene about it. If the conversation hadn't been awkward enough, though, she'd gone and said that - been all " _I like talkin' to you,"_ \- and he sure as hell didn't know what he was supposed to do _then._

The phone call had ended pretty quickly after that, and he felt like a jerk about it, knowing full well that she was just being nice to him and he should be able to behave the same way around her. But when it came to compliments, Daryl was useless, and he just hoped that Beth understood that he wasn't going out of his way to be a jerk to her.

Sleep didn't come easily for him that evening, though, and the next time that he checked his phone, it was gone one a.m. Daryl figured that he was probably long overdue a day off, anyway, so maybe it wouldn't matter that much if he just didn't turn up at the bakery in the morning - hell, the staff would probably prefer a day without him there watching over their shoulders, anyway. He'd have to text Rosita in the morning and let her know so that nobody thought that it was too strange (the last thing that he needed was one of his employees panicking and turning up at the cabin when his brother was here), but either way, he just decided there and then that he'd be having the day off for once.

It was in that moment that Beth's words from the previous week rang through his mind; the memory of her sweet voice chirping about how he deserved a day off every now and then, the memory of her kind smile and her soft eyes when she had said it to him. Nobody had ever really cared about whether or not Daryl worked himself into an early grave or not - sure, his employees joked about him always being there, but nobody ever got serious with him and told him that maybe it was time that he had a break, maybe it was time that he took it easy.

Hell, even Carol never mentioned a fucking thing about it.

When he pulled out his phone from under his pillow and began to type out a text message to Beth, Daryl told himself over and over again in his head that he had no idea what he was doing. Before the surly man knew it, he had sent her a message and had locked his phone again and stuffed it right back underneath his pillow. Daryl knew for a fact that Beth would most definitely be asleep at this hour, especially if she had work at five, so he knew better than to expect a reply from her at this time.

As he drifted off to sleep, Daryl decided to himself that it was most definitely the late hour of the night - or perhaps the early hour of the morning - that gave him some sort of new found confidence.

The sort of confidence that had allowed him to text Beth Greene and ask her whether she wanted to go out sometime.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading and please review!**


	9. Chapter 9

**I am so overwhelmed by all of the support that you lovely readers have sent my way with this story. At over one hunred reviews, this is the best response that I have ever had to any of my stories and I just want you all to know that I honestly appreciate your kind words and your lovely feedback so much.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Beth Greene had never been one to use the Lord's name in vain, but when she woke up to a text from Daryl Dixon that read a very blunt _"wanna go out sometime?",_ a mantra of "ohmygodohmygodohmygod" began to play on repeat in her mind. Despite the early hour of the morning, her face lit up in one of her brightest smiles and Beth couldn't help but let out an excited giggle into the space of her room, although she tried to keep quiet so that she didn't disturb her parents who were no doubt still fast asleep in their room down the hall.

Getting herself ready for work that morning seemed to be much less of a challenge than it usually was for her. The youngest Greene girl suddenly felt wide awake and full of happiness, humming a soft but cheerful song to herself as she brushed her hair and applied her make up at her off-white vanity table, her lips turned upwards in a gentle smile the whole time. Even picking out something to wear for work wasn't as much of a frustrating task as it usually was for her, and Beth picked out a light blue summery dress that fit her slender frame perfectly and fell to just above her knees.

It wasn't long after she was dressed that Beth went downstairs to make herself something quick to eat for breakfast before work, and it was whilst she was chewing on her food that she responded to Daryl's simple message with a very simple reply of her own, knowing that the older man would probably prefer that sort of response from her, anyway.

Beth didn't even try and hide her wide smile a she quickly hit her thumbs and fingers against the screen of her phone, typing out a message that read _"I would love to."_

Without even thinking anything else of it, Beth pressed down on the send button before she could work herself up anymore about what exactly she should say to Daryl and then locked her phone once again, placing it face-down against the wooden surface of the kitchen table before she continued eating her breakfast.

.

.

.

Disappointingly for Beth, Daryl didn't make an appearance in the diner for his breakfast that morning the same way that he usually did before he started working at the bakery. For some small reason, though, a part of Beth had expected that she wouldn't be seeing him that morning, especially considering the fact that he had sent her his message at gone one o'clock - so just five hours before he would be due to arrive at the diner. Although the young blonde always looked forward to seeing Daryl, she couldn't help but smile to herself at the idea of him doing exactly as she had suggested just a week or so prior - that he took a day off for himself.

The breakfast rush didn't start until sometime around seven o'clock, but after that time, Beth was constantly on the go until around ten o'clock, which was when she liked to take her 'lunch' break. Carol arrived to the diner to start her shift somewhere around quarter past ten, and as soon as the older woman emerged from her tiny office and made her way onto the floor of the diner, Beth was already heading towards the kitchen area (which was where the staff ate their own dinners and kept their belongings) and calling over to Carol that she would be back out from her break in thirty minutes sharp.

Unable to help herself, the first thing that Beth did once she was safely hidden from her customers in the kitchen was pull out her phone from her bag and check to see whether she had any sort of response at all from Daryl. Unfortunately for her, the older man hadn't responded to her message of agreement, but Beth tried her best not to be too disappointed about his lack of response. Beth reminded herself several times that Daryl was a busy man and considering the fact that today might just be his first day off in what had probably been forever, she could easily forgive him for not responding to her by now.

Besides, just because she was up out of bed and wide awake didn't mean that everybody else in the world was. For all that Beth knew, Daryl could be very much still fast asleep in his bed, flat out and not ready to stir. With a soft smile now resting on her face at the thought of Daryl peacefully sleeping, Beth tucked her mobile back into her bag and grabbed her cream cardigan from where it hung on a coat peg, not bothering to look behind her and take notice of the confused expression that Carol was throwing at the back of her blonde head as she made her way out of the diner and straight in the direction of town.

It wasn't all that often that Beth ventured into town on her lunch break, even the diner wasn't that much of a far walk from the center of it all, really. Sometimes, Beth simply liked to enjoy the peace and quiet of everything around her and loved to just sit and watch people pass her by for a while, taking inspiration from their faces for some new songs that she had been working on. Today was another one of those days, and once Beth had grabbed herself a small sandwich to eat from the bakery (where Rosita informed her before she even asked that Daryl was in fact _not_ working that day), she went and found herself a bench to sit on whilst she ate.

Music had always been Beth's dream. It wasn't as though working at the diner did much for her passions at all, and even though Beth knew that she would enjoy being a social worker - especially if it meant that she would be working with children and helping families through difficult situations - she would never deny it to anybody that her dream had always been (and still was, in some ways) to be a singer or a songwriter.

But Beth Greene was just a small town girl with big dreams and a big heart, and even though she knew that some of her songs were pretty good, she also knew that she wasn't the sort of person who had whatever it took to make a name for herself in Hollywood. Beth wasn't interested in money or fortune or the lifestyle that came with being famous. She most certainly couldn't stand the idea of old men following her round, demanding that she flashed them a smile so that they could sell on her pictures. None of that appealed to her at all; but what _did_ appeal to her was the idea of singing on stage in front of people who would sing her own songs straight back to her, the idea of so many people connected to her through her own lyrics.

Her mama had always said that she was a big dreamer, and Beth knew that her mother was definitely not a liar and therefore she most definitely was a big dreamer. There were a lot of people in the world who wanted to be famous, although not many of them would necessarily admit it, but Beth was not ashamed to admit that she wished that she could make a living for herself by doing what she loved to do most: sing.

The sound of someone shouting loudly - well, it sounded as though they were hooting, more than anything - caught Beth's attention much in the same way that it seemed to catch everybody else's attention, too, and all heads were turning in the direction of the noise, attempting to see what was going on and where the commotion was coming from. Although she didn't consider herself to necessarily be a nosy person, Beth's attention had been snatched away by the sound of several raised voices, and before she even knew what she was doing, the young blonde was craning her neck from where she was sat on the bench still eating her sandwich in an attempt to see what exactly was going on around her.

For a short period of time, Beth wasn't able to see anything at all, but then she heard the sound of the loud, booming voices moving closer and closer towards where she was sitting, and the people who were walking around her seemed to either turn around and begin to walk in the opposite direction that they had come from or they were crossing the way, hanging their heads to the floor and picking up their speed so that they were out of the way as quickly as they possibly could be. The sudden change in the behaviour of the people in town caused Beth to frown as she finished off the last few bites of her sandwich, but as she turned her head in the direction of the noise once again, her light blue eyes widened just so slightly and she paused in her chewing for a good few seconds when she realised just who it was that was making such a fuss.

Of course it would be none other than Merle Dixon and his friend, Martinez.

Beth swallowed down her sandwich quickly and snapped her head away from the direction that the two men were walking in, silently hoping to herself as she nibbled on the last corner of her bread that the two men would pass by her way without even noticing that she was sat there. As much as Beth didn't want to behave the same way as the other people in town were - all judgemental and somewhat cruel - Beth also didn't want to wait around like a sitting duck just for the oldest Dixon brother to begin tormenting her once again.

Thankfully, the two loud men waltzed straight past where Beth was sitting quietly on the bench without even batting an eyelid in her direction, and even though she didn't consciously intend to, Beth held her breath until they both seemed to be a safe distance away from her. The young woman couldn't help but notice how the two of them seemed to be stumbling slightly, and her interest suddenly peaked in where exactly Merle and Martinez had been served any alcohol at such an early hour of the morning.

Quickly finishing off her sandwich, Beth stood up and wiped the crumbs from her dress, chancing another glance in the direction that the two burly men had walked off towards before she made her way back to the diner, which, thankfully for her, was in the opposite direction. It didn't take long for Beth to get back to work, and the young woman wasted no time in hanging up her cardigan on her coat peg and quickly reached out for a clean apron to wrap over her pretty dress, not wanting to get it dirty.

Once the lunchtime rush had worn off, Carol allowed Beth to go and grab her things and head off home at around three o'clock. With a grateful smile, Beth gathered up her belongings, messily placing her cardigan into her bag because it was far too warm at this time in the afternoon for her to be wearing it and then threw her bag over her shoulder, waving goodbye to the rest of the staff at the diner before she began to make her way towards home.

The walk back towards the farm wasn't necessarily all that long - around twenty five minutes - but in the scorching heat, it may as well have taken her hours. Beth Greene most certainly was not a lazy person and she enjoyed walking to and from her place of work, always refusing to accept her father's offer of driving her or picking her up. Today, though, Beth was beginning to regret never accepting his offers to her because she had only been walking for a few minutes and she wasn't even remotely close to home and she was already breaking into a sweat. Thankfully, she had packed herself a large bottle of water into her bag that morning before work and she refused to allow her amazing mood to be dampened by the humidity of the day but unfortunately for Beth, the bottle of water was anything but cold anymore and didn't bring her much relief at all.

It seemed as though the road in front of her was stretching on forever and it felt as though Beth wasn't moving anywhere at all as she trudged along the pavement. In the distance, she could hear a low rumble that sounded something close to that of a motorcycle, but Beth pushed down the part of her that instantly began to get all excited about who might by driving that vehicle as she continued her way down the road. There wasn't that many people who lived in this town who own bikes, but there were enough and Beth scolded herself for behaving as though Daryl Dixon was the only man in town who had a motorbike.

The distinct rumbling sound of the engine seemed to be getting louder and louder, but Beth fought the urge to turn her head over her shoulder and instead continued to face directly in front of her. Naturally, she was a curious young woman, but today Beth didn't want to feel too disappointed - especially considering how well the day itself had started out for her - and so Beth refused to turn around, even when it sounded like the person who was riding on the bike was slowing down as they approached her, even when it sounded as though the person who was riding the bike had come to a complete stop beside her.

It was only when Beth heard her name being called out by a familiar voice that she allowed herself to stop in her tracks and turn her body to face in the direction of the noise, a smile spreading across her face the moment that she recognised Daryl tugging off his helmet. A giddiness consumed her at the sight of him, and whilst a large part of her wanted nothing more than to rush at him and lunge into his arms, Beth remained rooted to the spot.

"Hi, Daryl," she smiled, tucking a strand of her wavy hair behind her ear as she offered him a bright smile. "What are you doin'?"

Daryl squinted his eyes at her question. "Was gonna ask you the same thing," he told her, giving her a skeptical look.

"Oh," Beth breathed, her hands falling a little awkwardly to rest by her sides. "I'm jus' walkin' home. Finsihed work about ten minutes ago."

Daryl nodded his head once at Beth's words, although he continued to frown at her. The older man was quiet for a few more beats before he ran a hand through his messy hair, turning his head in both directions as though he was checking to see if anybody else was around them before he returned his attention back to Beth. "Wanna ride home?"

His question caught her off guard, and Beth simply blinked at him for a moment or two, a blank expression on her face. It was only when she noticed that Daryl had opened his mouth as though he was going to say something else to her - probably to immediately retract his request and jump back onto his bike and drive off as quickly as he could - that Beth snapped back into reality and beat him to it, repeating the words that she had sent in her text to him earlier that morning.

"I would love to," she breathed, and Beth most certainly did not miss the way in which Daryl's lips twitched ever so slightly upwards, leaving him offering her a hint of a smile before she took a step towards him.

* * *

Within half of a second of Beth stepping out towards him, Daryl outstretched his arm to her and held out the helmet that he had previously been wearing as an offering. Beth accepted the helmet from his big hands with a shy smile and struggled with the foreign object for a couple of seconds whilst she tried to put it on, seeming to have not anticipated just how tightly it fit around the head area.

Now that he thought about it, the helmet itself would probably be a little bit too big for her, but it was still a squeeze to get into at first. Once she had finally got it on and was tying the strap at the bottom, Daryl had to admit to himself that the pretty young blonde looked all sorts of ridiculous dressed in a summery blue dress that fell to her knees and little pumps that matched the colour of her dress exactly with a big black bikers helmet on top of her head.

Still, though, Daryl held back a chuckle as he took in her appearance, and once he had inspected the helmet for her and double checked that the young woman had strapped it on properly, Daryl motioned for her to climb onto the bike behind him, guiding her with his hand movements to mimcik the same position that he was in.

Once Beth was settled on the bike in the correct position, she didn't hesitate in pressing her chest to his back and wrapping her arms straight around his middle, her grip already tight enough that Daryl didn't have to tell her to squeeze a bit harder so that she didn't fall off - although the last thing that he needed was any sort of reminder about the fact that Beth Greene's hands were resting on his body.

There was a big part of Daryl that didn't even register what he was doing when he had pulled over at the sight of Beth walking along the road in the first place. That afternoon, the surly baker had decided that he wanted to go out for a ride on his bike _just because,_ and as soon as he had caught sight of her slender figure walking along the road in that well-fitted dress with her long blonde hair falling all the way down her back, Daryl had seemed to just go straight into autopilot and had pulled over next to where she had been walking along.

"Do you know where I live?" Beth asked him, the sound of her voice - muffled by the heavy helmet that she was wearing - bringing Daryl straight back into reality.

"Yeah," Daryl said with a nod of his head, and at that he decided to start up the engine. Without any further warning on his part, the bike kicked off with a loud roar, and from behind him he heard Beth squeal loud and clear in his ear, wrapping her arms impossibly tighter around his waist as he began to drive away in the direction of the Greene farm.

As much as Daryl figured that he really should _not_ get that much of a thrill out of her nervousness when riding on the bike behind him; he couldn't deny it to himself that he fucking _loved_ the way that Beth let out a girlish shriek every time that he revved the engine or moved the bike a little bit faster. More than anything, though, Daryl was just relieved that Beth naturally seemed to pick up on the fact that she had to lean into the turns and movements along with him, because in the excitement of having her - fucking _Beth Greene_ \- agree to let him give her a ride home, his dumb ass had forgotton to mention it to her.

The ride to the Greene farm didn't take long at all, although Daryl had frowned to himself several times about the thought of Beth walking all this way home on her own every time that she had work. For a moment, he wondered as to whether she did this every single day - after all, it had to be an hours walk, at least, and the roads round near the farm were quiet - almost deserted, really, and Daryl thought on about how if anyone ever chose to follow her from the diner...

"Thank you so much for the ride," Beth breathed as she removed his helmet, her hair looking all messed up and tangled compared to how neat and tidy it had been before they had taken a ride on the bike.

Daryl like the way that it looked on her.

The young blonde seemed to be a little bit breathless, her cheeks all red and her eyes all wide to match along with her windswept hair, and Beth's legs looked to be more than just slightly unsteady as she moved to step off from where she had been sat behind him on the bike. At the sight of her struggling, Daryl reached out his hand and gripped at her waist in an attempt to steady her so that she didn't fall, all thoughts about the possibilities of what could happen to the pretty young blonde as she walked home from the diner gone from his mind as he concentrated on trying to keep her on well-balanced and on her feet. The pair of them seemed to be equally surprised by the contact, and Daryl's ears naturally burned red whilst her cheeks turned an even darker shade of crimson, both of their eyes seeming to shoot down to where his hand was resting snugly on her hip.

Within seconds of her standing upright, Daryl snapped his hand away form her as though her touch had scorned him. The older man was naturally observant and immediately noticed the nervous way in which Beth began to fumble around with her hands, smoothening down her dress in an attempt to quickly distract herself and do _something_.

Without even knowing what the fuck he was thinking, Daryl wondered to himself about whether or not Beth missed the feel of his own hand on her body half as much as he was already starting to.

"Ain't nothin'," he found himself mumbling, dismissing her previous statement of thanks.

Beth offered him another one of her smiles and just shook her head at him. "Well," she stated, ceasing in her movements of wiping down the front of the material of her dress, "it's somethin' to me. So thank you, Daryl."

Not sure of what it was that he was supposed to say to that - what it was that she expected him to say to that - Daryl just shrugged his shoulders at her and accepted the helmet back from her much smaller hands.

"Did you get my reply to your text this morning?" Beth then asked him, catching him off guard and causing his deep blue eyes to flicker up straight to her own.

Daryl had indeed seen her response to his message, and he cursed himself for making her wait around for a reply. He hadn't known what exactly to say back to her simple reply, and he had told himself that he was going to call her later on that evening about what it was that she wanted to do with him for their date - if it even was a date; if she even saw it like that, and not as just an outing as two friends - but now she had gone and called him out on it, it just sort of made it look like he was probably making some sort of shit excuse.

"Yeah," he said, nodding his head. Not bothering to explain to her about how he was going to call her later on (because he had a feeling it would probably just sound like some sort of bullshit that he just made up on the spot, anyway,) Daryl cleared his throat and looked around the fields that surrounded her daddy's big white farm house. "Was gonna see... See if you wanna come to the fair next week with me."

The smile that lit up her face at his words might just have been the most beautiful thing that Daryl had ever seen.

"That sounds _amazing_ ," Beth said to him, and fuck, the way that she stressed that last word and the way that she smiled at him like he was the most amazing man she had ever met... Well, it had Daryl's stomach flipping in all sorts of ways that he never even knew were possible before.

When he had heard Rosita talking about the fair that was coming to town in work a few days before, Daryl had instantly thought about Beth, but now that she was talking about the damned thing like it was the best thing that anybody had ever fucking said to her, Daryl realised just how perfect the whole thing could be.

So long as he planned it just right, anyway.

"Alright," Daryl said with a nod of his head before he made a move to put his helmet back on. "Guess I'll let'cha get inside."

Beth blushed a little bit at that, although he couldn't be sure why. "Sure," she said to him, nodding her head. "An' I'll hear from you soon?" she added at the end, looking up at him with her big blue eyes as she nibbled down on her bottom lip.

Trying his best not to stare at the way her teeth picked into the flesh of her mouth, Daryl nodded his head at her. "Yeah," he croaked out, his voice suddenly sounding much lower than it had before. "Yeah. I'll call you tonight."

That seemed to make her smile even brighter than she already was doing, and before Daryl could even blink, Beth was moving closer and closer towards him. Within seconds - before he could even move backwards or protest or even fucking flinch - she had placed her soft palm against his cheek and pressed her lips to his other, her kiss tender and innocent and gentle.

She stepped backwards then and giggled at his surprised expression before she started towards backwards towards her daddy's farmhouse.

"I'll speak to you tonight, then, Daryl," she said, halting in her movements once she had reached the bottom step of the house.

All that he could do in that moment was nod his head at her once before he shoved his helmet back on, watching as she made her way up to the door and waved at him once before she made a move to step inside.

With a loud roar of the engine, Daryl was off, speeding away from the farmhouse and back towards his cabin, hoping that his brother was still out and about doing god knows what with god knows who so that Daryl could have a little time to himself.


	10. Chapter 10

**I apologise in advance for any obvious spelling/grammatical errors - I typed up this whole chapter on my phone and it was just so annoying.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Although Beth had tried her best to keep the information about her upcoming date with Daryl Dixon a secret, it seemed as though in the end, it was incredibly difficult to withhold those sorts of details from her parents.

Well, it was more that it was difficult to keep hiding it from her mother more than it was from her father; but that was simply because despite the fact that Beth considered herself to be part of a generally close family anyway, her mama in particular was practically her best friend who she confided in about pretty much everything. For what had seemed like the longest amount of time, Beth had kept her crush on Daryl a secret, knowing that her mama would probably be quite surprised to hear her daughter say his name when discussing the man who had caught her eye. And besides that; Beth had always liked keeping the more romantic side to her life as private as she possibly could.

Unlike her older sister, Maggie, who had brought home more men than any of the Greene's could count on all of their hands or even begin to possibly remember, Beth preferred to keep quiet about who it was that she was dating (if she was ever dating anyone in the first place). Beth had never even really considered bringing a boy home to meet her parents, and though her parents had been introduced to Jimmy several times due to the fact that the pair had been good friends for several years before they started dating, Beth had never brought Zach back home to the farmhouse, even though she had been in a relationship with him for a good six months, at least.

What seemed to be concerning her - and surprising her, too, more than anything - at the moment was the fact that she was spending a lot of her free time daydreaming about the youngest Dixon brother, and although he was the subject of many of her private fantasies, it shocked her that her mind would sometimes wander off to thoughts of inviting him round to dinner at the farm one evening. Images of Daryl and her daddy shaking hands and her mama kissing him on the cheek as he stood on the porch of the house danced around her mind along with pictures of Daryl sitting and eating with them at the kitchen table as he answered all of her father's intrusive questions were currently filling her mind, and try as she might, Beth couldn't shake them.

A large part of her didn't even want to.

Annette Greene knew her youngest child better than anybody else in the world did, and the woman was certainly proud of that fact, too. The older blonde was always telling everybody about how Beth was her best friend and about how the two of them were like two peas in a pod, and it always brought a smile to Beth's face to know that not only did she have a generally good relationship with her mother, but also the fact that more than anything, having that sort of relationship with her made Annette genuinely happy.

The young blonde didn't try and hide away from her mother when she enquired as to where she would be spending her afternoon and evening on that Friday. Beth answered her questions as honestly as she could, informing Annette that she would be at the carnival that was being held just on the outskirts of town, and when her mama asked who it was that would be accompanying her to the event, Beth had tried her best not to be overwhelmed with her burning cheeks and quietly informed Annette that she would be going with _"a friend"_.

But that had all been this morning, and now it was almost three o'clock in the afternoon and Daryl would be picking her up in just over an hour and Beth was stood in front of her wardrobe in just her underwear, her long blonde hair still damp as it fell down her shoulders and a frown on her face as she struggled over what to choose to wear. As though she was some sort of psychic who just knew that her daughter needed a hand, it was at that precise moment that Annette appeared in the doorway of Beth's bedroom, one eyebrow arched and a hint of a smile on her face as she looked over Beth's appearance.

"So," her mama had started with - her tone all teasing, but equally all sorts of curious, too - as she handed Beth a light blue denim playsuit that fell to the middle of her thighs. At this point, Beth had completely given up as she sat on her bed watching her mama root through her wardrobe, a satisfied smile on her face when she found a white cropped cardigan to match. "Who's the lucky boy?"

It had always been difficult for Beth to lie to anyone - even somebody that she barely even knew - but lying to her mother was completely different territory for her that the young woman knew that she would never be able to cross.

With a soft sigh, Beth looked up from where she had been picking at her fingernails and offered her mother a gentle smile.

"He's not so much of a boy," Beth said slowly. She paused for a few seconds, waiting for her mother to look more suspicious and even slightly annoyed, but Annette continued to blink down at her daughter with an unphased expression. "He's more of..." Beth struggled, unsure of exactly how to describe Daryl to her mother. "Well, a _man._ "

Unexpectadly, Annette's lips twitched upwards slightly at Beth's choice of wording, and the older woman let out a little laugh.

"Oh, Bethy," her mama breathed out, shaking her head as she walked towards Beth's cream vanity table and picked up one of the hairbrushes from it. "You're too innocent for your own good sometimes, sweetheart," she continued with a smile. Beth wasn't sure exactly what to say so she chose not to say anything as her mama sat herself down beside her on the bed and began to brush through her damp hair that was quickly drying.

The two women were sat in peaceful silence for a little while until Annette finally asked the question that Beth had known would be coming. Her mother was just as curious as she was - at least, that's what her daddy always said, smiling and shaking his head and trailing off about how Beth always got her curiousity and her looks from her mama. "What's his name?"

Beth cleared her throat as she reached out for her blowdryer which was always tucked underneath her bed. "He's called Daryl," Beth said as she studied the object in her hands, turning it around as though it was the most fascinating thing that she had ever seen. "Daryl Dixon."

Chancing a glance in her mother's direction, Beth noticed that her expression was completely blank; not giving away anything at all - not anger or confusion or even any surprise. The only sign of any sort of reaction that Beth received to the name that Annette had just heard her say was the way in which her brushing of Beth's hair faltered slightly, but her mother started back up in the same rhythm almost immediately afterwards and Beth was unsure of what she was supposed to say now.

Part of her was inclined to explain herself, to defend Daryl to her mother and go on to explain why she had decided to go on a date with him - why he was worthy and how she had noticed that he wasn't all as bad as everyone made him out to be. But just as Beth opened her mouth to begin with her defensive attitude, Annette beat her to saying anything at all.

"Tell me about him."

Those words took Beth by surprise, and her light blue eyes widened immediately as her head snapped in her mother's direction, her mouth still hanging open slightly in shock. Offering her only a smile, Annette continued on with her task of brushing Beth's hair, and Beth passed her mama the blowdryer from her hands so that the older woman could plug it into a socket and begin to dry it much faster than the air around her was doing.

"He's a little bit older," Beth began, figuring that her mama already knew that about him, anyway. "But he's nice. He owns a bakery in town." Her mama most definitely knew that, too, but Beth supposed that it was best to pretend that Annette had never heard of Daryl or his family and act as though he was a complete stranger. "He comes in the diner most morning's for breakfast, and I... I started to notice him a while ago now. And then I guess he started to notice me, too, 'cause he asked me out to the fair."

"He asked you?" her mother confirmed, actually looking a little surprised there.

Beth nodded her head up and down in response. "Yeah, he did. He saw me walking home from work the other day... I guess that it was his day off, and he drove past me when I had just left the diner." The youngest Greene girl thought that it was probably best if she didn't mention the fact that Daryl was riding his motorcycle that day as opposed to driving a car, which her mother would simply just assume that he was doing. "He offered me a ride home and then he asked me to come to the fair with him tonight."

"Have you told your father?" Annette asked, although Beth knew that her mama already knew the answer to that. Annette and Hershel Greene were very much a team: the two of them told the other everything, especially when it came to their children, their motto seeming to be that this family had no secrets. It didn't bother Beth as much as it seemed to bother Maggie, and Shawn was very much unphased by it all, too.

"Not yet," Beth said as her mama flicked the switch on the blowdryer and held it to her hair. "I will though. Soon."

Her voice was slightly raised over the loud noise of the blowdryer, and Annette just gave her youngest child a knowing look as she began to brush through her drying hair much quicker than she had been doing before.

* * *

Daryl Dixon had never been to a fair before. Growing up, his ma was usually too drunk to even get herself up and out of bed, never mind out of the house, and his pa was usually down at the closest (and cheapest) bar that was around the shithole of a shack that they all lived in. Even if Daryl would have ever even been interested in going to a fair, he knew that neither of his parents would have ever taken him and Merle was in and out of juvie so much that he would have probably not been there to take him, either.

Now, though, his life was different. Daryl was older now, and stronger, too, and even his dad or his brother wanted to tease him about going to somewhere like the fair, he knew that he would be able to hold his own. Because when it came to Dixon men, it wasn't always the case that you only had to verbally defend yourself; and unfortunately, Daryl had learned the hard way that if you couldn't physically defend yourself, then you were fucked. Daryl was a lot more independent, too - although growing up, he had always really had to fend for himself, but now he actually was responsible for himself and it was down to him what he did and where he went and with who.

And it wasn't as though Daryl could take Beth Greene just anywhere. Asking her out in the first place had been difficult enough without him worrying about where exactly he was taking her, and in the end, he was relieved that the fair had come by town, otherwise the older man didn't have a clue where he would even begin to take her. It was just another reason on his long mental list of reasons as to why he wasn't good enough for Beth and why he should probably just leave her alone. The thing with Beth was that she made that difficult for him, and Daryl had no idea how he was supposed to leave the young woman be when she looked at him the way she did with those big blue eyes and when she smiled at him the way she did, too - like he was the best man that she had ever met, like he was the most wonderful person she had ever seen.

Daryl tried not to think on too much about all of the reasons that Beth Greene should be with someone who was better than him when he was driving up the dirt path that led up to her daddy's big white farmhouse, ready to pick her up for their date. Another reason that he was glad that they would only be going to the fair was that he didn't need to dress up all fancy-like, and instead, he was more than ready in his faded denim jeans and red and blue flannel shirt with the sleeves cut straight off.

The younger woman must have been waiting for him because the second that he stopped the car, the front door to the farmhouse was being pushed open and as Daryl looked up out of the windscreen of the truck, he caught sight of a flash of blonde hair and long, pale legs that had him visibly swallowing down the thick lump that seemed to just appear in his throat. Daryl was relieved that he hadn't gone and met her at the door because he would have probably stood there frozen to the spot like some sort of gawking teenager at the sight of her, and at least from where he sat in the drivers seat of the car, he could stare all he wanted.

She looked amazing. As far as he had been aware, Beth always did look beautiful, but the way that she looked today made him realise just how little effort she made whenever she was working at the diner and just how naturally beautiful that she was. But she looked wonderful like this, too, and it was nice to see her all dolled up, her long blonde hair falling pin-straight down her back and wearing a little denim number that was one of those things that looked like a dress but was actually shorts at the bottom.

Before he knew it, the youngest Greene girl was sliding herself into the passenger seat of his baby blue pick-up truck and offering him a dazzling smile. Apparantly, Beth had gone above and beyond and applied some make-up to her already pretty face that just made her look even better than she usually did.

"Hey," she breathed, gripping at the seatbelt and pulling it across her lap smoothly. "How are you?"

All that Daryl could do for a good few seconds was blink in her direction, unable to even open his incredibly dry mouth to greet her, let alone answer her question. Instead, he just nodded his head at her and made a sort of grunting noise that caused her to giggle. The sound of her laughing caused the corners of his lips to instinctively twitch upwards, and before Daryl even knew what he was doing, he was letting out a chuckle of his own, hanging his head for a brief moment before he turned the key and revved the engine of his truck before he set off in the direction of the fair.

.

.

.

The date with Beth was actually _fun._

Although Daryl had never been to a fair before, it was just how he imagined that it would be - just like he had seen in all of the movies. A wide variety of stalls littered the open space of a large field on the corner of town and when the two of them had first arrived, there had been plenty of children and young people scattered around, but now it was getting a little bit later - just past seven thirty - and it seemed as though the fair was beginning to attract older people as opposed to the younger ones.

It had been a relief to Daryl that Beth seemed to be enjoying herself, too, and her joy at the whole sight of the fair had been enough to make him happy for at least a good couple of days. There had been a slight bit of awkwardness between the two of them at first, but now that they had relaxed and were getting into the full swing of things with their date, all of that tension seemed to have disappeared. At some point in the last couple of hours, Beth had reached out for his hand and their fingers had been intertwined ever since.

The two of them hadn't kissed whilst they had made their rounds of the fair; although there had been a couple of moments shared between them when Daryl had known that he had a good opportunity to just get it over with, but it just never seemed to happen.

There had been a moment when they had been walking past one of the stands, neither of them paying much attention at all to their surroundings as they talked to one another, but the sound of Daryl's name being called had caught both of their attention. It turned out that it was Gareth, a guy that Daryl knew through Merle (not somebody he liked - in fact, he always got a pretty bad feeling around the guy), who mentioned that he was working on the fair as a favour for a friend.

Naturally, both Beth and Daryl hovered by the stall for a moment to see what it was that Gareth wanted, and it wasn't long before Daryl was being challenged by the younger man to see whether he could win Beth a prize by throwing a tennis ball at some glass bottles and knocking them down. For three dollars, he received three attempts, and there was a large selection of prizes at the back of the stall that could be won depending on how many bottles were knocked down at once.

With a huff, Daryl reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet before he handed Gareth the money, turning his attention to Beth as Gareth deposited the tennis ball into his free hand.

"Which one d'ya wan'?" Daryl asked, cocking a brow at Beth as he quickly tossed the ball in the air and caught it again in his palm.

Beth's light blue eyes broke away from his own and she looked over the variety of stuffed animals that were on show behind Gareth. Her vision settled on the largest one of them all - a huge stuffed lion - and she pointed it out to him with a shy smile.

"You've gotta knock 'em all down for that one," Gareth said, an arrogant smirk on his face as he leaned forward against the counter, his palms flat against the surface of it. "Let's see what you've got, Dixon."

It only took Daryl that one attempt to knock down all of the glass bottles, and even though he was fairly surprised at himself for doing it, he tried his best not to act too smug about it. The look of surprise and confusion on Gareth's face was almost as brilliant as the way that it felt when Beth flung herself into his arms, her laughter ringing in his ears before she quickly cupped his stubbled jaw with her soft hand and pressed a chaste kiss to his cheek. The young blonde was out of his arms before he could even really register her being in them, though, but the brilliant smile that she offered him was more than enough of a prize for himself.

Soon after, Gareth reluctantly handed over the large stuffed lion and mumbled something about luck as Beth took it from him, grinning at the teddy as though it was the best thing that she had ever owned. Since then, she had been lugging the damned thing in her arms the whole way around the fair even though Daryl had offered on several occasions to take it back to the truck for her. Each time, Beth had just shook her head at him and gently refused his offer, and now Daryl was beginning to think that the younger woman was hauling that fucking lion about just to make a show of what he had won for her.

If she wanted to subtly show off though, he had absolutely no problem with that - especially when it was because of _him._

It was getting later now, and a lot more people seemed to be leaving the fair than there was people coming on to it. The sky was turning darker by the second as the sun set further into the sky, and once the fairground was all lit up by lights, Daryl suggested that maybe they should go on the ferris wheel and then get going.

"That sounds perfect," Beth smiled, tucking a strand of hair behind her ears.

The two made their way over to the Ferris wheel, both of them walking at a leisurely pace, neither in any particular rush to reach their destination. The fair itself seemed to be filling up with teenagers - kids who were just a couple of years younger than Beth, but at least a good thirteen years younger than him. Unable to help himself but frown at the sight of them all, Daryl found himself beginning to flood his own mind with doubts - doubts about what the hell he honestly thought that he was doing here with Beth, doubts about why he honestly thought that she might be interested in him when there were plenty of people her age around town -

As though she could read his mind (which was impossible, Daryl knew, but the determined look on her face seemed to say otherwise), Beth bumped her shoulder playfully against his, sending him crashing back into reality, into the moment. A soft smile lit up her features, and the beauty of her smile in that moment made him forget all those self-conscious thoughts.

"I've never been on a Ferris wheel before," Beth said to him as she heaved the lion teddy a little bit higher against her chest so that she had a better grip on it.

"Tha' makes two of us, then," Daryl said.

Beth let out a little laugh at that and ducked her head down so that she was examining the mane of the stuffed animal, her lips twitching upwards as she tugged on the red strands of hair there before she glanced back up at him through low lids.

"What's so funny?" Daryl asked, the frown on his face a lot more put on than it was sincere, his tone gruff but teasing, too.

Beth laughed again and shook her head. "Nothin' at all, mister Dixon," she grinned, and just as he was about to open his mouth and say something about her sass, the pair of them came to an abrupt stop.

Daryl hadn't even realised that they had made it to the Ferris wheel.

The wheel itself was all lit up with yellow and pink lights, shining brightly into the darkness of the evening, and from the looks of things, not that many people were riding on it. The two of them stood beneath the Ferris wheel for a moment, both seeming to be a little taken aback by it - particularly by it's size. From the distance that they had walked, it had seemed to be much smaller than it did now.

Daryl supposed that heights didn't really bother him much, but as his deep blue eyes narrowed down in Beth's direction, the slight look of panic on her face was more than obvious to him. It reminded him in that moment that he still didn't know too much about this young woman, and he hadn't even thought to ask whether or not she would be comfortable going on the fairground attraction. Like a dumbass, he had just assumed that Beth would like this sort of shit, but the longer that she stared up at the Ferris wheel, the more petrified she seemed to become.

"We don't gotta go on it," Daryl found himself saying to her, but Beth just shook her head from side to side stubbornly.

"No," she said, her tone determined, even if her voice wasn't necessarily strong. "No. We're goin' on it."

Letting out a huff, Daryl followed her line of sight and looked back up at the Ferris wheel before glancing back down at her worried expression, his eyes unable to focus on anything but the way that she was nibbling on her lower lip for a little while. "Nah, Beth, we -"

"Daryl, we're goin' on it," Beth said, turning her head so that she was looking straight at him. The young blonde jutted out her chin defiantly, and the hint of determination that let itself appear over her previously worried features made his lips twitch ever so slightly upwards.

"Alright," Daryl said, trying his best to hold back the smile that threatened to grace his own lips.

The last thing that he wanted was for Beth to think that he was taking the piss out of her.

One ride on the Ferris wheel cost seven dollars each, and Daryl didn't miss the way that Beth's eyes widened slightly when the guy behind the glass door of the attraction informed them of the price. Daryl didn't physically react at all, though (despite the fact that yeah, he did think that it was a fucking joke considering the ride probably lasted five minutes) and just pulled out his wallet from his back pocket and handed the guy a twenty dollar bill.

"Here," Beth said, reaching into the little brown satchel that had been hanging over her shoulder the entire time. "I'll pay for me -"

"Nah," Daryl said, shooting her a determined look of his own as he tucked his wallet back into his back pocket and shoved the loose change that the guy handed to him in the front pocket of his jeans. "S'fine. I got it."

It looked like Beth wanted to say something else to him, and her hand still wavered around the satchel as though she was still debating handing him her money, but before she could even open her mouth, the guy behind the glass door was pointing out the free carriage and telling them to hop on.

He wasn't sure who grabbed the others hand first - for all that he knew, it could have been him reaching out for her - but before Daryl knew it, the two of them were both sitting in the carriage of the Ferris wheel, Beth straight across from him. The space was a pretty tight squeeze; so her knees were bumping against his and they barely both for across from each other, but Beth's fingers continued to stay intertwined with his, and Daryl supposed that he really didn't mind the close proximity that the space encouraged between them after all.

"It's kinda pretty, isn't it?" Beth murmured as she peered out towards the fairground.

It was only then that Daryl realised that he had been staring at her and not even paying attention to their ride, but when her head turned to face him and her light blue eyes locked with his own darker ones, he found that he sure as hell couldn't look away from her to glance out at the sight of the fairground.

And in all honesty, Daryl believed her - it probably did look all pretty now that it was darker and later on and the place was all lit up with tea lights and neon signs. But he still couldn't bring himself to look away from her big doe eyes.

"Yeah," he murmured, knowing that his gaze was probably all sorts of intense in that moment. "It is."

The weight of his words seemed to speak volumes for her, too, and Daryl wasn't even that sure of where they came from. God knows he wasn't good with words and his ears burned the second that he realised what he had said, but the small smile that appeared on Beth's face after he said it made him feel just a little bit less embarrassed.

Although he didn't really want to break their eye contact, Daryl couldn't help but shift uncomfortably underneath her gaze, and then he was turning his head to look out at the sight of the fairground. He was pretty sure that their carriage was nearly at the top of the wheel, and Beth had been right - the sight below them was kind of pretty. From their height, everything below seemed so small, even the people - no, especially the people. It was his first time ever riding on a Ferris wheel and he had expected it to be boring and awful, but it really wasn't all that bad.

Especially not when Beth had her fingers wrapped around his, squeezing them a little too tightly every time that the carriage rocked a little bit, or every time that the ride jolted to a stop for a couple of long seconds before it started up again, continuing on with it's movements. It was in the moment where their carriage arrived at the highest point that Daryl acknowledged to himself that this would probably be the perfect moment to kiss Beth, and the look on her face when she met his eyes again have him the feeling that she was thinking the exact same thing; but the problem was that Daryl had never really been confident with women - especially not pretty ones like Beth Greene - and instead of leaning forward to press his lips agains hers, Daryl found himself rocking backwards in his chair, causing the carriage to jolt a little suddenly.

And even though Beth laughed at the surprise of it (and she squealed a little in surprise, too - another sound of hers that he decided he loved), the glad of disappointment that had appeared on her face didn't go a miss by him.

. . .

It was going on half past nine when Daryl pulled up outside the farmhouse, Beth laughing besides him in the passenger seat of his truck, still clutching to that huge stuffed lion. It was a little bit awkward between them once Daryl shut off the engine of the truck, but then he was pushing open his door and meeting her round the front of the truck and things weren't all that awkward after all.

"Why, Daryl Dixon," Beth smiled, her tone all teasing as she made her way up the porch steps of the house. "Are you walkin' me to my door?"

Daryl rolled his deep blue eyes at her tone, shooting her a playful look. "You gotta quit with your sassin', girl," he practically growled as the pair of them slowly approached the front door of the farmhouse, the wooden floorboards of the porch creaking loudly in protest against their weight.

Beth giggled at his words. "You know you love it really," she grinned, spinning her body round as they reached the door.

Daryl stopped a step or two away from her, not wanting to have been too close so that he looked like he was looming over her.

All playfulness was gone from his tone when he agreed with a "yeah, I do." Beth's smile seemed to fade a little as the younger woman realised what he was saying once again, seeming to be a little caught off guard by his words.

Daryl was (once again) just as surprised as Beth was by what he said, but he tried not to give too much of that surprise away to her, instead continuing to stare at her intensely as her hand rested on the doorknob of the house. Beth's eyes stayed locked on his own for a good few seconds until they eventually flickered down to his lips.

And Daryl might have been useless when it came to matters of the opposite sex, but he sure as hell understand the look that she was giving him in that moment.

"You can kiss me," she murmured into the darkness, her eyes meeting his again, her voice all low and sensual.

At Beth's own words, Daryl's breath hitched in his throat, and the older man couldn't help but be a little bit surprised by her boldness. Still, his body seemed to have a mind of it's own, and at the sound of her vocalising her agreement, Daryl found that he couldn't help himself.

The kiss between them had been a long time coming, and his big hands cupped her soft face and his nose brushed against hers just slightly before he pressed his lips to her own. It was slow and soft and didn't even last all that long, but Beth's shoulders sagged beneath him and as he pulled himself away from her, Daryl couldn't help but smirk a little at the sight of her own wide smile.

His hands continued to cup her face for a short while longer until he found his cheeks heating up under her gaze. Daryl's hands dropped back down to his sides and he cleared his throat as he took a step back from where she was resting against the front door of her daddy's house, a soft smile on her face.

Unsure of what to say to her, Daryl said the first thing that came to mind - "I'll call you."

It was lame and he knew it; fuck, he knew that Beth knew it, too, especially when she let out a little giggle.

"You better," she grinned, and with one last long look, she disappeared into the farmhouse, carting the huge stuffed lion along with her.

For a few moments afterwards, Daryl seemed to be frozen to the spot, but once the porch light shut out (he had a feeling that Beth had flicked the switch to turn it off from inside the house), he came back from his surprised state and pushed himself backwards, wasting no time in making his way to his truck and driving back towards his little cabin in the middle of nowhere, hoping to himself (again) that Merle would be anywhere else but there.


	11. Chapter 11

**Hello everyone!**

 **Two updates in one day?! I know, I know... Practically unheard of, right?! But you have all just been SO positive and so kind and your lovely feedback (especially to the last chapter) has been so overwhelming... I just couldn't resist. So take this chapter as a thank you.**

 **Before anyone reads this, I just wanted to make my line of thinking clear... I want to push this story on a little bit and so this chapter is set exactly one week after Daryl and Beth's date. I was set on having Merle as being a generally good character but there are blurred lines between good and bad anyway and I think that for now, I'm probably going to have him leaning more towards the nasty side. Don't worry, though - people can always be saved, especially when Beth Greene is on the scene, but I didn't want it all to be running TOO smoothly for them and wanted to add a bit of conflict to this fic. That conflict is coming in the form of no other than Merle Dixon.**

 **I hope nobody is necessarily put off by it. Merle won't necessarily be a barrier to the relationship... more just someone who kicks up a fuss and causes a bit of trouble between them. But I wanted to make this story a little more interesting and add a bit more drama to it, so... you know. Yeah. I'll stop rambling now.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

"Pick up, pick up, pick up," Beth chanted down the phone in a hushed voice as it dialled, her eyes squeezed tightly shut as her foot tapped loudly against the tiled floor of the diner's kitchen, one of her thin arms wrapped around her tiny waist in some sort of attempt to comfort herself. It wasn't something that Beth did often, but there were times when other people (usually her mama or her sister) pointed out to her that in tense situations or times when she felt uncomfortable - or generally just vulnerable - she would wrap her arms around her torso and cling tightly to herself, as though she was trying to give herself a reassuring hug.

At the sound of Daryl Dixon's voice greeting her down the line with a gruff "'ello?", Beth's light blue eyes flew open in surprise, her lips naturally twitching upwards into an excited smile just at the sound of him. It had been two or three days since she had seen him because she had been given no other choice but to cover Tara's shifts at the diner as the other girl had apprantly extended her sick leave, and Carol was really struggling to find anyone who was willing to work the late shift most evening's - particularly on a Friday night, like tonight.

Beth had been given two days off in a row - Wednesday and Thursday, which was very unusual for her - and then she had been placed on the late shift tonight, meaning that even though her and Daryl had exchanged several text messages throughout the time that they hadn't seen each other for, Beth had not seen him - or heard his voice, either.

"Daryl!" Beth squealed down the phone, unable to contain her happiness or hide it from him, either. She knew that it was late - almost an hour past midnight at this point - but she had thought that maybe Daryl would still be out and about and awake at this hour, especially considering the fact that it was the weekend. "Oh, Daryl, I'm so, so glad that you picked up! I'm really sorry to ring you this late, but your brother -"

"Where is he?" Daryl asked, completely cutting her off before she could even begin to explain. Almost immediately after the last word was out of his mouth, Beth was certain that she could hear the sound of Daryl rummaging around with something, and the sound instinctively caused her to frown down the line.

"Here, at the diner," Beth explained, certain that she heard no other than a zip being pulled up from down Daryl's end of the line.

 _Had he been asleep? Had her call disturbed him, woken him up, maybe?_ The young woman supposed that it was actually pretty late on in the night now, and she suddenly felt awful for bothering him with this in the first place. Maybe Merle Dixon wasn't something that she couldn't handle for herself - of course, he wasn't the easiest of all men to be around, but she was sure that she had probably had to deal with much worse than him.

"I really am sorry, Daryl," Beth apologised, the guilt for disturbing him already eating her up. "It's just that Merle's... Well, he's real drunk, an' I'm jus' on my own here, so -"

"S'fine," Daryl interrupted her once again, completely cutting her off mid-sentence for the second time. "I'll be right there." With that, Daryl ended the call.

Pulling the phone away from her ear and holding it out in front of her, Beth couldn't help herself but frown down at the contraption, confusion and uncertainty painting itself over her pretty face as she registered the fact that Daryl had just hung up the phone on her. Even though he was awkward enough as it was in person and even more so on the phone, he was never usually that blunt or rude with her - instead, Daryl tended to be a lot more unsure, and Beth wasn't used to him hurrying to get rid of her in such a manner.

Collected herself after another long few seconds, Beth finally shook her head from side to side before she pushed herself upright from where she had been leaning leisurely against the sticky counter of the diner's kitching, telling herself that she had probably been hiding away in the kitchen for long enough. After all, she had no idea what Merle and his friend, Martinez, were getting up to in the empty diner now that she had left the pair of them unsupervised.

As she opened the door to be greeted with the sight of Merle pouring himself a drink from over the counter of the bar, Beth desperately fought the urge to groan and hang her head in her hands. She told herself that Daryl would be here soon enough, anyway, and she was sure that if anybody could control Merle Dixon, it would be his younger brother.

Besides - the older man couldn't be all _that_ scary.

Right?

.

.

.

"So wha', jus' cause you're suckin' my baby brothers dick, you reckon you've gone an' got 'im all pussy whipped?" Merle drawled. "I don't think so." He wheezed out a laugh just moments after he was finished, but Beth was too caught by surprise at both the language that the older man used and the loud sound of his laughter to even do anything apart from blink straight back at Merle, completely unsure of what to even say back to him.

Beth may not have known Merle much at all, but she knew enough about the man to know that it was more than best to just leave him alone and not provoke him.

"She fuckin' your brother?" Martinez asked, tilting his beer bottle towards where Beth was stood behind the bar, sounding as though he was in disbelief at the notion of Daryl and Beth sleeping together at all.

The young blonde couldn't help but frown at Martinez's tone. She knew that she wasn't much – all small breasts and narrow hips and innocent eyes – but all of her life, people had told her that she was a pretty girl, so surely that had to count for something.

"Sure is," Merle said, tossing a grin to his friend before he narrowed his eyes ever so slightly in Beth's direction. His whole demeanour seemed to change then, and even though he was still smiling, there was something in Merle's bright blue eyes that had Beth suddenly feeling a lot more uncomfortable – even though she had previously thought that to be impossible. "Ain't that right, sweetheart?"

Beth's heart was hammering in her chest so harshly that she was surprised that Merle couldn't hear it from where he was sat across from her at the bar. The young woman was used to being teased by other's – after all, she had grown up being the youngest of three children – but that didn't mean that Merle didn't intimidate her at all. In fact, he managed to do quite the opposite; and Beth wasn't a fool – she knew that Maggie and Shawn were absolutely nothing compared to Merle Dixon and Caesar Martinez.

With that thought, a pang of sadness and sympathy suddenly hit her in her chest, and Beth couldn't help but think of Daryl, imagining how it must have been for him as he grew up with none other than Merle Dixon as his older sibling.

Although Beth didn't know all that much about the Dixon brother's and their family history, she knew enough – knew that their father, Will, was a wicked man and that their mother (who always seemed to remain nameless, as though nobody had ever really bothered to get to know her enough to even know what she was called) was a drunk who burned herself down in the house that they had lived in. Beth knew that Merle had been in and out of prison for various crimes over his life, and even though he was back now, the youngest Greene had a feeling that his presence in town wasn't necessarily permanent.

Clearing her throat and putting on the most unphased expression that she could muster onto her face, Beth bit out an "I'm not sleeping with anybody," emphasising the last word. Unfortunately, though, her words only seemed to encourage the two men, which most definitely had not been her intention. Beth's lips turned down into a frown as both Merle and Martinez howled with laughter, Merle seeming to find her defiance a lot more amusing than his friend did.

As quickly as he had laughed and smiled all wolfishly in her direction, though, Merle's attitude changed. It was though a switched had been flicked inside of him, and as easily as he had laughed, the man was suddenly appearing to be much more serious than Beth had ever even seen him be before. Merle's body language completely changed as he took a defensive stance; his facial expression stoic, his back straightened where he sat on the bar stool, his shoulders broad as he puffed out his chest.

Beth started to panic before the older man even opened his mouth.

"Wha' you tryin' t'say 'bout my baby brother, girl?" Merle asked, his bright blue eyes narrowing impossibly in her direction as he slowly looked her up and down.

"Nothin'," Beth quickly stuttered out, feeling incredibly flustered and anything but the confidant woman that she had been previously trying to portray herself as to both of the men who sat in front of her. "I just meant – "

"Jus' meant bull _shit_ ," Merle hissed, his lips turning upwards into a spiteful sneer, just the look on his face causing the hairs on her arms to prickle to attention. "You think you're better than 'im, huh? Think you're better than _us_?" Merle pounded his fist against his chest on the last word, his eyes never breaking contact with her own. "'S that how it is?"

Beth's light blue eyes widened at the older man's accusations, her head shaking back and forth at rapid speed as she attempted to shoot down everything that he was throwing at her. Although she knew that her trying to reason with Merle was in vain – mostly because it was him, more than anything, but also because Beth had a feeling that this whole intimidating bad-boy persona was all a part of an act, a front that he had in an attempt to intimidate her – Beth couldn't help herself but try.

"No," she said, her voice breaking slightly as she cried out. "Of course not, I –"

"Give it up, blondie," Martinez snickered from beside his friend before he took a long swig of his beer, seeming to be completely at ease with Merle's harsh words and his suddenly aggressive attitude.

Merle took a moment then to glance back at his friend and offer him a sly smirk before he slowly turned his head back in Beth's direction, returning his attention back to her. Within half of a second, Merle's expression had turned cold once again.

Before Beth could even open her mouth to say anything else to try and defend herself, the oldest Dixon raised one of his thick fingers at Beth so that he was pointing straight at her; the action not necessarily meaning much at all, but still intimidating her all the same – as though it was a gun or a knife that he was holding out as a weapon to her as opposed to his finger.

"Listen here, _bitch_ ," Merle spat out, looking as though he thoroughly enjoyed the way that Beth was backing up against the back counter of the bar and the way that she flinched at the sound of him cursing at her in such a bitter tone. "You ain't no better than any of us. 'Specially not my baby brother. So you better make sure tha' you treat 'im real nice, or I –"

"Merle!"

The sound of Daryl's voice booming across the deserted space of the diner caused Merle to tense up, the furious expression on his face seeming to cool down immediately as he halted in the middle of his threatening speech. Unable to help herself from reacting to the sound of Daryl's voice filling her ears, Beth's shoulders sagged in relief at the familiar sound of the rough voice – even if the younger of the two brother's sounded even angrier than Merle had seemed just moments before.

Part of the young blonde thought that maybe she had made a mistake by calling Daryl. Perhaps she should have just ignored Merle and Martinez and their teasing and left them to it. But even though she felt weak for feeling as though she needed to call him, Beth reminded herself of just how frightened she had been – especially considering the fact that she was working alone in the diner that was empty for most of the late hours of the night and the early morning.

Although there was a part of her that believed that Merle would never actually lay a finger on her, the older man was still intimidating and threatening and he certainly didn't seem to mind scaring her. With that knowledge, Beth decided that maybe she really hadn't been all in the wrong for giving Daryl a call.

The sight of Daryl bounding across the floor of the diner straight in the direction of his brother had Beth's heart fluttering in all sorts of unfamiliar ways, and her light eyes never broke away from his face despite the fact that he wasn't paying her much attention. Instead, Daryl's own deep blue eyes seemed to be locked intently on the back of Merle's bald head.

Apparantly, Merle didn't need to turn around to even glance over his shoulder at who was heading straight in his direction, right towards where he was now sat with his elbows resting against the counter of the bar. The smirk on Merle's lips spoke volumes for Beth as she realised that the older man genuinely enjoyed this; seeming to love the way that his brother shouted out his name just as much as he had appeared to have loved the way that Beth had been cowering from his presence just minutes before.

The older Dixon brother took one more long swig of his beer - finishing off the bottle - before he tossed it into the bin behind the bar, although from the way that he threw it and the fact that Beth had to jump out of the way of the glass, the young blonde thought to herself that Merle had most definitely been aiming more for her body than he had been the bin. The glass bottle whacked against the back of the bar before it fell into the bin, causing Merle to let out a loud hoot for the small victory.

Although she didn't want to really admit it to herself, Beth couldn't help but be slightly pleased and even a little bit proud when Daryl grabbed Merle's shoulder roughly, causing the older of the two brother's to spin his head round in Daryl's direction, the smirk on his face completely gone at this point.

"What the fuck are you doin' here, Merle?" Daryl boomed out, the volume of his voice taking Beth by surprise. She was certain that she had never seen him so furious - the younger brother pracitcally seething - and she had most definitely never heard him speak so loudly. "I told you to stay away from this place."

(In the heat of the moment, Beth didn't really register Daryl's words and take them much to heart, but when she revisited the situation in her mind much later on, the meaning of his words hit her with full-force. Beth didn't need to wonder about whether or not Daryl had told Merle to stay away from the diner because he wanted his brother to leave her alone - that much was more than obvious, to the point where it wasn't even a question.)

"An' who are you? My ol' lady?" Merle snorted, Martinez chuckling from behind him.

Instead of saying anything else in response to Merle's sarcastic comment, Daryl just glared down at his brother, his chest heaving up and down as the rage that he felt practically burned from him. The two of them stared at each other for what felt like hours before Merle finally gave in, letting out a loud sigh.

"Was jus' messin' around with your girlfriend, Darylina," Merle said, holding up both of his hands as though he was pleading his innocence, his tone taking a similar route.

For the briefest of moments, Daryl's eyes flickered towards where Beth was stood, her back still pressing against the back counter of the bar. The youngest Greene girl was frozen to the spot, her palms gripping tightly to the wooden surface of the bar, looking very much like a deer caught in headlights. Her heart fluttered once again against her chest in the slight few seconds that Daryl held her gaze, but all too soon he was looking back down at his brother.

"She ain't my girlfriend, Merle."

Daryl's words stung more than Beth cared to admit, although she knew that he was just trying to help her out - just trying to get his older brother to back off from her, to quit his teasing and to leave her alone for good. Besides, it wasn't as though Daryl was exactly lying. Just because they had been on one date together and just because he had kissed her and just because he had called her afterwards didn't mean that they were anything at all.

Goodness, it didn't even mean that they were friends, never mind lovers, or partners, or anything of that nature. Beth Greene most certainly was not going out with Daryl Dixon, so she definitely wasn't his girlfriend.

But still, it didn't change the fact that it hurt to hear him speak about her like that. It hurt to hear Daryl offer his brother an answer to the question that had been swirling around in her mind for months; _'what are we?'_

Seeming to be completely oblivious to the fact that Beth was pracitcally crushed by what Daryl had said, Merle laughed - and of course she should have figured that he would find his brother's rejection towards her amusing. That was the sort of man that Merle Dixon seemed to be, unfortunately, and Beth was quickly learning that his attitude towards women was not the one that she expected men to have - especially when his brother was just so different in every single way.

Even though the two of them may have been family; they may have shared blood and they may be kin, that didn't mean that they were at all the same, and Beth knew in her heart that Daryl Dixon would never speak to her or treat her the same way that his older brother had done just minutes earlier, even if he was absolutely furious at her. That just wasn't the sort of man that he was.

Before Merle could let out another smart remark, though, Daryl was jabbing one of his fingers into his chest and growling out a low "get out."

For a moment, the tension in the diner could have been cut with a knife; particularly when Merle slowly tilted his head so that he could glance down at where his younger brother's finger was still pressed against the material of his thin vest, and even more so when he hopped off the bar stool that he had been sat at quicker than Beth had seen him move all night. But just seconds later, Merle was smiling at his brother - genuinely smiling - before he began to leisurely stroll towards the entrance door, waving his hand behind him as though he was bidding goodbye and goodnight to them all.

And perhaps he was.

Martinez looked incredibly uncomfortable for a short while afterwards, until he pushed himself down from his own seat and followed Merle's lead towards the exit of the diner, chancing a look over his shoulder in Daryl's direction only to scurry a little bit faster when he realised that the surly man was staring straight back at him. Once the door had come to a close behind Martinez, Beth found that she could finally release the breath that she hadn't even realised that she had been holding, her line of vision turning from the closed door back towards where Daryl was still standing in front of the bar stool that Merle had been sat on.

The younger brother looked incredibly defeated.

"'M sorry, Beth," he sighed out after a moment, his deep blue eyes finally lifting up to look across the way at her.

The broken way in which he was gazing at her was enough to make the young blonde certain that her heart was going to break into one hundred pieces of its own, and before Beth even knew what was happening to her body, her legs were moving on their own accord, her palms and her fingernails lazily tracing in a straight line across the wooden surface of the top of the bar as she made her way over to the other side where Daryl was stood.

It was only when she was standing directly in front of him that her cheeks began to blush and Beth realised what had happened; acknowledging the fact that she had brought herself over here as opposed to Daryl coming to her, something that she had been wanting for a while. There were times when the older man made a lot of effort with her, and then there were other times - other times like these when he seemed incredibly distant, as though he wasn't even sure that he was supposed to be around her, never mind speak to her, never mind touch her.

Beth tried as hard as she could to fight all of those negative thoughts that he seemed to have about himself for him, but there were occasions when it seemed as though she was fighting a losing battle. In that moment, as Daryl stared down at her, so many words hidden behind his tightly sealed lips, so many emotions hidden behind his glazed over deep blue eyes, Beth knew that any words that she might have of her own would never be enough to convince him that this wasn't his fault, to convince him that he wasn't to blame for his brother's behaviour.

All that she could do in an attempt to reassure the man that she was quickly falling for was to grab the bull by the horns - literally - and reach up on her tiptoes so that she could press a soft and tender kiss to his lips. It might not have necessarily been the response that Daryl had expected from her, and it certainly might not have been the way that Beth imagined responding to him, either; but as he returned the pressure of her kiss and seemed to relax into it, Beth found that she could accept the fact that this had most definitely been the best way to deal with what had happened that night.

The kiss was broken just a short while later, and there wasn't any possibly way that Beth could hold back the triumphant smile that lit up her features when Daryl pressed his forehead against hers and he nuzzled the tip of his nose against her own.

"I'm glad you're here," Beth breathed. Despite the fact that their kiss hadn't necessarily been all that passionate - more sweet and innocent, if anything - her chest was still falling up and down at a rapid speed as though she had just completed a marathon at record speed and her cheeks were still flustered as though the two of them had done a lot more than kissing.

Apparantly, Daryl couldn't help but smile at her, either; although his was more of a smirk than anything as he opened his eyes to meet with hers. "Even 'cause o' my dick of a brother?" he asked, unable to hide the disbelief in his tone.

Beth giggled softly and leaned up on her tiptoes to press another kiss to Daryl's lips. "He's not _that_ bad," the young woman tried, but Daryl offered her only a knowing look in response that had Beth sighing in defeat. "Alright, maybe he is, but... I'm still glad that you're here."

Daryl nodded his head at that.

"Didn't know you worked the late shift on your own all the time," he said a few seconds later, his lips brushing against hers as he spoke.

The sensation of it tickled, and Beth couldn't help but smile at the feel of it, pulling her head away by the smallest fraction so that she could look up at him. "But you were here not that long ago when I was on the late shift on my own."

"Yeah," Daryl said, nodding his head. "But I didn't know that you were on your own all the time."

Not sure of what to say in response to Daryl's statement about her colleagues and the shifts that they worked, Beth just shrugged her shoulders sheepishly. "Guess not that many people like workin' it."

Daryl nodded his head once again at Beth's words. "Can see why," he said, narrowing his eyes a little bit as he looked down at her. "I don't like you workin' it."

It seemed as though this was another one of those moments that they shared after Daryl said something that he hadn't necessarily meant to, and it was only when he realised exactly what he had said to her that he seemed to fluster and become much more awkward and unsure of himself. Before any self doubt could enter his mind, Beth pressed herself up against him again and kissed him once more; the pressure of her lips on his much firmer and more determined this time, hoping that he took the hint that she was pleased with what he had said to her.

And although Beth knew that it was probably inappropriate to be behaving this way considering the fact that she was supposed to be working, when Daryl wrapped his arms around her waist and tugged on her so that she moved impossibly closer to him, she couldn't help but smile against his lips. When the kiss that they were sharing deepened so that instead of being chaste and sweet, his tongue instead was brushing against her own at a dominating pace, Beth knew that her world as she knew it was about to change. All of the thoughts of his previous words to his brother disappeared from her mind - _"she ain't my girlfriend"_ no longer ringing through her ears - and for the first time since they last shared a kiss exactly one week before on their date, Beth felt completely relaxed and immensely happy.

And it was all because of the youngest Dixon brother.

* * *

His older brother was the biggest asshole that he had ever fucking met.

The worst part about it was that Daryl didn't even believe that it was his own personal opinion anymore. No, it had to be a fact; and Daryl decided that it was a long time coming that he was done with Merle's shitty behaviour and his even more shitty attitude. All that his older brother ever fucking did was throw it in his face that he had been the one who had looked after him when they were growing up, and even worse, all he had ever done - especially recently - was act as though Daryl actually owed him something for all of that.

But now that Daryl really took the time to think over it, he realised to himself that Merle had never even been there for him anyway; not now, not ten years ago, and especially not when they were both kids. Most of the time, his older brother would have been either locked up, drugged up and high as a kite just like their mama had been or just generally out of town; never caring much about what the hell was going on at home in the shithole of a cabin that Daryl lived in with their shitty excuse of a dad, never even giving a second thought as to whether Daryl was actually okay, whether he was safe and whether he was fed and whether he was even fucking looked after.

No, Merle Dixon had never been the type to care - never been the sort of guy who had ever given a shit about anyone other than his own god-damned self, and the bastard had always had the fucking cheek to behave as though he was actually _surprised_ whenever Daryl mentioned something crappy about their foul excuse of a childhood. The time that Merle had seen that Daryl's back was just as messed up as his own - if not worse - he had come out with a load of bullshit; spewing off some crap about how he had always thought that their daddy would only ever do that to him, never to his little brother, and that he just had to get out and leave that place that they called a home or he would have ended up just killing their old man.

At the time, Daryl had never said anything to Merle; he had just grunted and shrugged his shoulders, hardly giving away any of his opinions on the matter. But the look in Merle's eyes had told Daryl everything that he had needed to know: that Merle understood the fact that Daryl didn't believe any of the crap that came out of his mouth, and that he didn't give a shit about any of it, either. As far as Daryl was concerned, when he had needed his older brother most, Merle hadn't been there - no matter how many bullshit excuses he gave, Merle would never be able to change that or make up for it, either.

The past was the past, but it didn't mean that Merle wasn't a shitty person.

Unlike his dickhead of a brother, though, Beth Greene, on the other hand, was most certainly _not_ an asshole. In fact,t he girl was near enough anything and everything but, and quite frankly Daryl was sick to death of his brother's bullshit when it came to her. There had been several times in the past week when Daryl had warned Merle to leave both Beth and the diner alone. It had all been because fucking Gareth had ran his mouth about Daryl being at the fair and winning some pretty blonde girl a giant stuffed lion; but Merle being Merle had quickly gone and put two and two together, and he sure as hell hadn't shut up about Daryl and his new 'girlfriend' for the past seven days. The brother's had come head-to-head over it several times, but Merle never seemed to not find any of it amusing.

But as far as Daryl was concerned, tonight he had taken the whole thing completely too far, even by Merle's standards; and the worst part about it all was that Daryl couldn't ever be sure within himself that his older brother wouldn't lay a finger on Beth. Merle didn't live by the same code, the same sort of rules that his younger brother did, and Daryl had a feeling that as much as Merle thought that he was a good guy too, there was a line that Daryl would never cross that Merle definitely would.

When Daryl finally arrived back at home from the diner (where he had kissed Beth until they were both breathless, until her lips were swollen and her hair was messy and until the sound of a car parking up in the lot had signalled to them both that another customer had arrived), he was relieved to notice that Merle wasn't anywhere at all to be seen in or outside of the cabin. Daryl thought to himself that maybe his older brother had had some sense knocked into him - if not by Daryl's furious words, but then by his friend, Martinez. It was most likely Ceasar who would have offered Merle a couch to sleep on, although Daryl aready knew that Martinez's wife sure as hell couldn't fucking stand his brother (just like most everyone in town, though). It wouldn't necessarily be the first time that Caesar's wife had put up with Merle staying at her family home for the sake of her husband, though, and it wasn't as though Merle really gave two hoots about where it was that he was staying or with whom, or hell - even what it was that he was sleeping on.

Sad as it was to admit to himself, Daryl knew that he definitely couldn't put it past his older brother to have not slept rough or on the streets more than once in his life. The thing was, though, that Daryl couldn't even find it within him to feel sorry for Merle - not after everything that Merle had said and done, not anymore. At the end of the day, Merle was a piece of shit, plain and simple, and after the way that he had treated Beth - _his_ Beth - that evening, Daryl decided that he was done with his older brother.

He wasn't just saying it this time, either. Daryl was done; and for good, too. As far as he was concerned, until Merle sorted himself out; until he got himself off the crack or the acid or whatever the fuck it was that he got high on, until he stopped with the excessive binge drinking and until he stopped with the dealing, too, then Daryl was done with him. There was no two ways about it anymore, no excuse that Merle could come up with. The guy would be fifty in a couple of years and he had fuck all to show for his life - hell, he didn't even have a job, never mind a house or a stable relationship or any sort of family. All that Merle had was Daryl, and if he couldn't get himself clean for the sake of his brother, then Daryl knew that he would never be clean for anything or anyone.

The decision to kick Merle to the curb wasn't necessarily an easy one of him to make, though, and it wasn't one that he looked at lightly, either. But Daryl knew in his heart that this had been a long time coming, but it had been the look on Beth's face when Daryl had first entered the diner, seemingly unnoticed - the look of pure fucking _terror_ that had taken over her whole expression as she cowered underneath Merle's gaze - had been the thing that had sealed the deal for him. And as much as Daryl knew that he didn't want to necessarily cut Merle out of his life, he also knew that until his older brother sorted his own shit out, then he just wasn't welcome around here anymore.

Not in Daryl's life; and most certainly not in Daryl's home, either. Merle needed to grow up, and the only way that he ever would would be if Daryl treated him the way that he would treat anyone else behaving in the same way. Sometimes, you needed to be cruel to be kind, and this seemed like one of those times.

Despite the fact that it was getting closer and closer to two o'clock in the morning when Daryl finally arrived home at the cabin in the woods, the surly man knew that he was still too worked up from the events of that night (or morning, if he was being technical about it) to actually even contemplate getting any sleep, at least for a good hour or two. So without thinking anything more of it, Daryl kicked off his boots and let out a heavy sigh as he grabbed a large black trash bag from inside one of the kitchen drawers and quickly began to pace around the front room of the cabin, picking up all of Merle's shit and dumping it into the bag. All of the empty beer cans, all of the dirty underwear, all of the half-eaten take away pizza that had been left in the box for days... All of it picked up from his living room floor within ten minutes of him starting his task.

(Apparantly, Merle had thought that the couch was a lot more comfier than the bed in the spare room, but Daryl was sort of glad for it now - after all, it meant that there was less of a space for him to have to clear up).

The sight of the living room (small as it was) looking actually somewhat tidy and clean and hell, half fucking presentable again after not being for the few weeks that Merle had lived there allowed Daryl to feel just a tiny bit relieved at the decision that he had made. The younger Dixon brother made sure that he locked the front door to the cabin behind him before he made his way towards his bedroom, and within moments of him collapsing onto his bed, sleep took over his form and he was snoring loudly into the darkness.

Dreams of a certain blonde and her skilled mouth had him entertained throughout the night, and as much as Daryl didn't really want to admit it to himself (he just wasn't ready to, yet), he knew deep down that he had slept a lot more peacefully last night knowing that his brother wasn't there than he had done for the last couple of weeks.

Selfish as it might have been, not having Merle around was the best thing that had ever happened to him, and now that his older brother was off his case again, Daryl felt _free_ once more. And fuck, that feeling was addictive - and he wanted more of it, too.

* * *

 **I hope it doesn't seem too unrealistic that Daryl would cut Merle out this easily, but I also have my fingers crossed that it is obvious enough to you all that there a few missing scenes from this chapter (e.g. Daryl telling Merle to stay away from the diner), and I just want to address the fact _now_ that I will be revisiting these missing scenes in future chapters, but they will be in the form of flashbacks. **

**As always, thank you so much for reading and please review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**As always, thank you to everyone who has followed, favourited or reviewed this story, and thank you for all of your support. You are all just so sweet and I love hearing from you all.  
**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

It was almost fifteen minutes past three when Beth finished work, although Carol had practically been trying to shove her out of the diner by two, never mind three. As much as Beth would have loved to have finished a lot earlier considering the fact that she was practically running dead on her feet, now that Amy had quit from her waitressing job at the diner - the other young blonde had said that she was leaving to apparantly work with her older sister at a law firm, although she had decided to let Carol know at the last possible minute - Carol honestly needed all the help that she could get. There happened to now be a lot of extra shifts going, especially considering the fact that Tara had yet to return to work from her doctors note, and Beth couldn't help but feel incredibly guilty leaving Carol to pick up all the extra hours - even more so now that she was a member of management, too.

Besides, so long as she knew that she was helping everybody else at the diner out and so long as she knew that she was earning a lot of money to put away into her savings account for when she graduated from college, Beth honestly didn't mind working the extra hours.

It seemed as though her manager was having plenty of other ideas, though, and had spent most of her day interviewing potential new recruits to work at the diner as Amy's replacement. Carol had been actively encouraging Beth to take a day off from working at the diner for a while now, which Beth honestly appreciated - she knew that other managers may have been the opposite and would have probably encouraged her to work more and more, especially if it meant that they didn't have to go out of their way to employ somebody else. Fortunately, though, Carol was a good manager - the older woman may have been a little strange sometimes, and a little cold and distant every now and again, too; but she was still kind and sweet, and she looked after her staff.

Just as Beth had gathered her things and slung her satchel over her shoulder, Carol entered the kitchen, leaning her upper body against the doorframe and holding the heavy door open with just one of her feet. Although Carol was a tiny thing - maybe just as slim as Beth, if not a little bit bigger - she sure was strong, and sometimes it amazed Beth just how much that woman could pick up and move and pull and push. If Beth tried holding that door open wide with her hands, she knew that she would fail; so she could only stare at Carol's foot in amazement for a moment or two before the older woman cleared her throat, shooting Beth a strange look.

"I'm just lettin' you know that I've hired one of the guys that I interviewed," Carol said, folding her arms across her chest as Beth gripped loosely to the strap of her satchel. "His name's Noah. He starts workin' tonight, so I don't need you to come in tomorrow mornin'. You can take the day off."

Beth eyed Carol wearily. "Are you sure?" the younger woman asked, her hesitance evident in her tone. "I really don't mind. I feel bad leavin' you guys if -"

"Beth," Carol said, cutting her off mid-sentence with a stern look. At the sight of Carol's no-nonsense expression, Beth shut her mouth immediately. "You're fine. I told you, take the day off. Do somethin' fun."

The younger woman smiled shyly at her manager and just nodded her head, pulling at the strap of her satchel for something to do as she was feeling more than just a little nervous. Even though she was around Carol a lot of the time, there wasn't all that many times when the two women were completely alone, and as nice as the older woman was, she could still be a little bit intimidating - even if she didn't actually realise it.

"Thanks, Carol," Beth said, and her manager just offered her a closed-lip smile before she made her way back onto the main floor of the diner. Beth stood rooted to the spot for a few moments after Carol had left, watching the way in which the door swung to a shut before she finally moved her feet and went to leave the diner.

As soon as she stepped outside, the heat of the mid-afternoon hit her immediately. It was the peak of the summer now, and working at the diner was just about bearable considering air conditioning had been installed years ago, but the lack of a cool breeze meant that the air was just far too humid for Beth's liking. All of Beth's friends had fun teasing her about her generally fair complexion, especially the fact that her skin was such a pale colour. Most people that Beth knew had much darker skin than her own, even her brother and sister had fairly olive complexions, and it was no secret that Beth had to practically drown herself in suncream during these summer months (although Beth was adamant that it was the smell of it that gave her away more than anything).

As she stepped out into the lot of the diner, Beth's eyes naturally scanned the expanse of the space there, and her heart practically jumped in her chest when she caught a glimpse of a familiar baby blue painted truck. Even though she had only ever been inside of the vehicle once, she would most definitely recognise that particular truck anywhere - especially when it was parked up in the same spot that it always took up in the lot of the diner. A slow smile spead across the young woman's face as she crept closer towards it, and once she was a little bit nearer towards the truck, she managed to catch sight of Daryl sat in the driver's seat.

The older man's forearms were resting lazily upon the steering wheel and his stubbled chin was resting on top of them; and at the realisation that Daryl had his tanned arms on show (he was wearing one of those sleeveless flannels again - the one's that honestly made her wonder about whether he cut the sleeves off for himself), Beth inadvertedly bit down upon her lower lip, chewing at the skin there out of habit.

The thing was, Beth and Daryl may have been on a date together - the best date that she had ever been on, actually - and they may have been in contact with each other over the phone more regularly than Beth ever thought that they would be, but things between them were still very much uncertain and most definitely undefined. Naturally, Beth couldn't help but continue to be quite shy around Daryl, especially considering things between them were still new (ish).

As far as Beth could tell, it seemed as though Daryl was opening up to her more, though - slowly, of course, but surely nonetheless, and Beth had acknowledged to herself on several occasions that the older man was actually making quite an effort with her. When she had first began to notice him as a regular customer in the diner, Beth had never even imagined that things would grow between the pair of them - especially considering the fact that there had been a time when the older man would practically refuse to even look up at her, never mind speak to her.

But now, here she was - heading straight over to Daryl's truck with a boldness that she never would have even imagined that she could posess, particularly around him. Despite the initial excitement that had coursed through her when she had first caught sight of Daryl's truck and the confidence that had settled itself in her chest that of course Daryl would be waiting for her (because really, who else would he be waiting for - especially at this time in the afternoon, in the diner parking lot?), as the young woman edged closer towards the truck, she found herself becoming much more self conscious all of a sudden.

Because really - what if she had honestly read this all wrong?

 _That would be so embarrassing._

But before Beth could worry on her bold actions too much, Daryl was pusing himself backwards from the steering wheel so that he was sat with his back pressed against his seat and winding down the window on his side. Beth was still slightly nervous, but she tried her best to put on an unphased expression as she reached the truck, pressing her palms against the door of the vehicle and standing up on her tiptoes so that she was closer to the window. Considering how small she was, it didn't do much to help her out, but at least it was something - besides, the sight of Daryl smirking down at her had her heart melting in all sorts of ways.

"Hey," Beth said, trying her best to ignore the way in which her heart was thumping against her chest and the ways in which her eyes were squinting due to the fact that the sun was shining directly into them. "What are you doin' here?"

Although the young blonde had been fighting a smile from lighting up her whole face since she had initially recongised his truck in the parking lot, the sight of Daryl giving her a knowing look in response to her question almost had her grinning from ear to ear.

 _Almost._

"Wha's it look like?" Daryl asked her, the smirk on his lips still very much present. Beth chose to continue on with her act of genuine innocence and just shrugged her shoulders at him, the action eliciting a low chuckle from him. "Figured I'd give you a ride," he explained, cocking his head at her.

Beth allowed herself to smile at that. "You don't have to do that," she told him, her voice soft and gentle.

The smirk that had been tugging at Daryl's lips disappeared at her statement, and his expression quickly turned to one of seriousness within a few seconds. For a moment, the older man didn't say anything at all to her and instead just stared at her with his brilliant blue eyes in a way that had her almost shuddering from the intensity of his gaze. But after a couple of seconds, Daryl spoke again, breaking the silence with his low, hushed voice.

"Yeah, I do."

Another moment passed between the two of them where Beth didn't know what on earth she was supposed to say back to Daryl, and all that she could do was stare straight back at him; unable to do anything at all, not even breathe, not even blink. Whatever it was that was happening between the two of them seemed to be growing at an impossibly rapid rate, and it was beyond the point of fighting it anymore - on boths sides, too.

There had been a time not even all that long ago when Daryl Dixon's long stares and silent looks had unnerved her, but now they just thrilled her, sparking emotions inside of Beth Greene that she had never even known were there in the first place.

Just as quickly as Daryl's seriousness had arrived, it left once again, and he was offering her a half-smile once again.

"Get in," Daryl growled at her, although Beth could hear the playfulness that danced in his tone. The young woman let out a little squeal to herself as she didn't bother to hesitate to offer him a broad grin before she pushed herself away from the driver's side door and made her way around the truck.

Before she could reach the passenger door, Daryl had leaned over from where he was sat and pushed it open from the inside so that it was already hung open for her when she arrived around that side of the truck. Beth let out a breathy _"thanks"_ as she climbed into the vehicle, her cheeks tinted pink as she pulled on her seatbelt.

"You got anywhere to be?" Daryl asked her as he put the key into the ignition of the truck, starting it up with a low rumble. Beth just shook her head no. "Alrigh'. Where d'you wanna go?"

Despite the gruff exterior that he had, Beth knew that Daryl was an incredibly sweet man, and it was obvious that this was his own way of asking her out once again. Even though the young woman knew that Daryl probably intended for the two of them to literally go _out_ somewhere, Beth certainly had other ideas - other sides of Daryl that she had been desperate to see for quite a while now, although she wasn't sure how Daryl would react to her about it.

The waitress instinctively bit down on her lower lip for a couple of seconds before she shrugged her shoulders for good measure and vocalised her throught. "Why don't we jus' go to your place?"

When the words had fallen out from her mouth, Beth had been trying her best to pull them off with a much more cool and collected sort of vibe. Unfortunately, though, it appeared as though those intentions that she had had were in vain as instead, the blonde had ended up practically croaking out her suggestion, her pitch increasing towards the end of her question quite dramatically and her voice breaking throughout.

There wasn't a chance that Daryl would have missed the awkward way in which Beth delivered her question and there also wasn't a possibility that Daryl would have not noticed the blush that spread across her cheeks - after all, Daryl Dixon was the most observant man that Beth had ever met - but he didn't give her any signs to acknowledge the fact that he knew there was something strange about her awkward behaviour.

In fact, all the younger Dixon brother did was flash her an uncertain look.

"My place?" Daryl asked, cocking one of his brows straight at Beth.

Still feeling embarrassed, Beth just nodded her head and hummed out a little _"mhmm,"_ trying her best to keep her facial expression composed as she did so since she obviously couldn't trust her voice enough to keep it in check. Instead of accepting that as her answer, though, Daryl just continued to stare straight at Beth, his deep eyes narrowed and his lips parted in a way that made Beth certain that the older man genuinely was just confused about the fact that she had suggested that the two of them head over to where he lived.

"That's what I jus' said, right?" Beth asked, adding a giggle to the end of her sarcastic question in the hopes that Daryl would recognise that she was really just teasing him as she brushed some of her hair from her face.

Thankfully, Daryl didn't take her statement at face value and his lips twitched upwards into a smirk once again. "Sure," he said, and Beth couldn't help but grin at that. "I'm warnin' you, though, place is a shit hole."

"I really doubt that," Beth said to him, honesty evident in her tone. Daryl didn't say a word back to her on that and instead just turned his attention to the road as he started to drive the truck out of the lot and towards the opposite direction of the Greene farm.

* * *

It wasn't as though Daryl hadn't been intending on spending any time with Beth, nor was it as though he didn't want to spend any time with her anyway; but when he had made the decision to come and pick her up from the diner that afternoon, he most definitely had not been expecting her to suggest that they go over to his place.

Daryl wasn't embarassed about his cabin. The place was humble enough, and yeah, it was pretty small, and yeah, it wasn't much - definitely didn't even come close to the big farmhouse that she lived in with her mama and her daddy - but it sure as hell was the best thing that he had ever owned in his entire life. His cabin was better than the old shack that he had grown up in, and it was better than owning nothing at all, which is exactly what his brother had.

More than anything, Daryl was just glad that in the few days since Merle had disappeared without a trace - although he had a feeling that his older brother was most definitely staying on someone's (most likely Ceasar's) couch - he had taken the time to clean the place up. As of yet, Merle was still to show his face around Daryl's end, and after what had happened in the diner the other night, Daryl had a feeling that his older brother would be licking his wounds for a little while longer before he came back around expecting to move straight back in.

The ride to his cabin didn't take all that long, and even though it was mostly quiet between them, it wasn't awkward - in fact, it was pretty damn comfortable. The pretty young blonde sat beside him had spent most of their journey singing along with the radio, and although it wasn't the first time that Daryl had ever heard her sing (Beth had a habit of humming and singing to herself as she wiped down the tables and swept up the floor of the diner), he was definitely more aware of just how _nice_ her voice sounded now that they were alone in his truck.

When they pulled up outside of the cabin, Daryl glanced over at Beth and couldn't help but frown at the sight of the grin on her face.

"Wha' you smilin' at, girl?" he asked, genuinely confused. For not even half of a second, it crossed his mind that maybe she was teasing him - laughing at him for this shithole of a cabin that he lived in, the one that desperately needed a good paint job and probably a good scrub, too - but those sorts of thoughts vanished as quickly as they came.

Beth Greene wasn't like that.

"Nothin'," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "It's just that this place..." her eyes were wide as she peered out of the window of the truck to his cabin. "It's just so _you._ "

Beth giggled again when Daryl raised a brow at her, and even though he still wasn't exactly sure what the hell she was talking about, he couldn't help himself but to offer her the hint of a smile before he pushed the driver's side door of the truck open, motioning with his head for her to follow his lead. Instead of getting out of her own side, Beth slid her body across the long seat and hopped down out of the driver's side, offering Daryl a dazzling smile once her feet were safely on the floor and she had shut the door behind her.

Without another word, Daryl led the way up towards the front door of the cabin and pulled open the screen door before he walked right in to the living room. Beth followed behind him, the only sound echoing around them being the sound of the floorboards creaking under their weight. Not bothering to turn around to check if she was following behind him, Daryl flicked on the two lamps that lit up the small space of the living room and kicked off his boots before nudging them underneath the coffee table that sat in the middle of the two worn-down couches.

Turning his upper body around, Daryl noticed that Beth was still stood firmly in front of the front door, her arms dangling by her sides and her eyes wide as she took in everything in the small space around her. Not really sure of what to say from then on, Daryl just shrugged his shoulders at her before throwing himself down on one of the couches and leaning forward for the remote.

"Make yourself at home," he told her as he pressed the button to turn the television on, supposing that maybe the best thing for him to do was put on a movie. He didn't know what Beth liked, so he got up the channel list and handed her the remote before offering her something to eat.

"I'm okay, thanks," she told him, shaking her head before she sat herself down on the couch beside him, keeping a small amount of distance between them as she positioned herself next to him. "Have you eaten?"

Daryl nodded his head, because he had grabbed himself a couple of sandwiches from the bakery before he finished work and then he had eaten them whilst he had been waiting in the car for Beth. Beth just smiled at his non-verbal answer before she relaxed herself into the chair, her back resting against the material of it as she selected one of the first movies on the channel list - some crappy romance one by the looks of the title - and placed the remote down in between them as some sort of peace offering in case he wanted to change the film over.

His deep blue eyes settled on the remote before flicking up to meet with her own, noting the way in which she smiled at him shyly. Without thinking anything more of it, Daryl picked up the remote and leaned forward from the couch so that he could place it on the coffee table, and as he sunk back into the couch so that he could get comfortable once again, he noticed the way in which Beth's smile seemed to broaden just so.

The girl seemed to relax a little bit more after that.

.

.

.

Two and a half movies later, Daryl had somehow ended up with one of his arms draped around Beth's small frame, her head resting on his chest as her eyes fluttered between being open and being closed. It was more than obvious that the girl was getting sleepy, and considering how dark it was getting outside, Daryl knew that it would soon be time to drive her home.

Every time that he had offered to give her a ride home, though, she had just shook her head and told him "not yet" - flashing him one of her small smiles like she knew that it was impossible for him to decline her of anything when she did that. Daryl had also offered to get her food several more times (although what he supposed he would make her, he wasn't sure, considering he didn't really have much in at all) but Beth had said that she was alright every single time.

When she had snuggled herself further into his chest, Daryl had been a little bit unsure of what to do - he just wasn't used to having anybody in his personal space the way that Beth currently was, and he sure as hell had never been intimate with a girl like this to even know what he was supposed to do with her. But then Beth had tilted her chin so that she was looking up at him and Daryl had glanced right back down at her out of instinct, and before he could worry too much about whether he was being forward or whether he was supposed to really do this with her, her lips were pressing against his.

.

.

.

The pair of them somehow ended up in his bedroom, although Daryl had already known that they wouldn't be having sex. Even though it was obvious to even his dumb ass that whatever it was between them was growing into something more than either of them had ever expected it to, Daryl couldn't help but feel as though he needed to hold back a little bit. Beth was a hell of a lot younger than he was - near enough by fifteen years - and even though he wasn't necessarily the most experienced of guys, he could tell just from how she behaved around him that she sure wasn't all that experienced, either.

Maybe even less so than him.

They kissed a lot, though, and Daryl was more than happy at the moment to keep it like that because he still didn't even have a clue what was going on between them both at the moment, never mind where she actually wanted to go with this. He'd had his fair share of quick fucks and one night stands, but there was just something about the way that things were going with Beth that made him think that this was different to any of that.

And he had absolutely no fucking clue what he was supposed to do from there.

The sound of Beth moaning out his name as she writhed underneath him on the bed had Daryl's deep blue eyes flinging open, and even though he would have loved nothing more than to just go as far as he possibly could with this, there was a part of him - a big part - that was telling him that he needed to be the one to put a stop to it. Beth Greene wasn't the type of girl to sleep around with just anybody, and even though he knew thay they were both being painfully quiet about it, one of them needed to say something to the other and clear things up between them.

As the older of the two, Daryl supposed that the responsibility for that probably lay with him.

"Beth, we gotta stop," he mumbled out, but the blonde wasn't listening too much to what he was saying as she broke her lips away from his only to pepper kisses across his jaw. "Beth," he groaned, his frustration more than evident in his tone. "Beth, we can't -"

Even from inside Daryl's room, the sound of the screen door of the cabin swinging open could be heard loud and clear, and that was all that it took for Beth to snap out of the spell that she had been under, too. Her light eyes - which seemed to have darkened by an incredible amount - were wide as she pulled herself away from him, her expression one of shock.

The way that she looked beneath him in that moment had Daryl realise just how lucky he was to even be here with her in the first place. Beth's skinny arms were wrapped around his neck so that she was still tightly pressed to him, and her blonde hair was all messy, fanning around her like some sort of halo. Those blue eyes were wider than he had ever seen them (although he had a habit of always thinking that) and her swollen lips were parted in a small 'o', her cheeks tinged with pink from where she was blushing.

And then the sound of Merle letting out a loud yawn coarsed through the space of the cabin, and without even giving it a second thought, Daryl jumped up so that he was standing on the floor of his room, leaving Beth alone on the bed. She frowned at him in confusion, but Daryl just lifted a finger to his lips in an attempt to silence her.

The girl was smart, though, and she seemed to understand what it was that he was desperately trying to communicate to her with his eyes. Beth nodded her head at him once and let out a shaky breath before she pulled herself underneath the covers of his bed, her eyes never leaving his as he walked out of the room, making sure to shut the door behind him.

Daryl found Merle in the kitchen, his older brother busy rummaging through the pretty much empty drawers of the fridge. His presence in the cabin had surprised Daryl enough to the point where he wasn't even all that angry yet; instead, he was mostly just curious as to why Merle had even come back here, and he found himself leaning against the doorframe of the kitchen, his arms crossed over his chest as he watched Merle intently. The way in which Merle's hands were shaking as he rummaged through the drawers had Daryl thinking that his brother was most definitely on something (although what exactly that something was, Daryl could never be sure), and when Daryl cleared his throat to let Merle know of his presence, the look on the older man's face confirmed all of Daryl's suspicions.

Bloodshot eyes that were wider than usual.

Sweat dripping down his forehead and his neck, drenching his grey tee.

His jaw slack and loose.

"Baby brother," Merle slurred, his lips curling up into a grin. "What are you doin' here?"

Yeah - he was talking shit, too.

"Was gonna ask you the same thing," Daryl said with a frown, watching as his brother scratched at the inside of one of his elbows. Daryl let out a heavy sigh as he watched his brother scratch at himself a little bit more before he opened his mouth once again. "Why are you here, Merle?"

Merle chuckled nervously at that, his eyes darting around the kitchen before he answered Daryl's question in an innocent voice. "Wha' d'ya mean?" he asked, the smile on his face never fading, his bright blue eyes never focusing on anything in particualr. "I lives here in this house."

Daryl had known that kicking his brother out of the cabin would be difficult enough if he was sober, but now that Merle was obviously flying high as a fucking kite, he had a feeling that it would be even more difficult than he had originally anticipated that it would be.

"Nah, you don't," Daryl said, shaking his head from side to side. "You gotta go, Merle."

For once, it actualy seemed as though Merle didn't know quite what to say as he stuttered over his words, his expression one of desperation. "C'mon, Daryl. You know tha' I -"

"No," Daryl interrupted before Merle could continue on any further, straightening himself up from where had been lounging against the doorframe and throwing his hands so that they fell by his sides. "No, Merle, _you_ come on. Get out."

Merle didn't move a muscle.

"I mean it Merle," Daryl said, hoping that his tone was convincing enough and that it wasn't so obvious to his older brother just how difficult this was for him in that moment. "You have t'go. You've gotta get clean, Merle, or you can't come back here."

The older man moved a few steps forward before he stopped dead again, bringing himself slightly closer to Daryl so that the two of them were practically toe to toe. "I's your big brother, an' you're gonna jus' throw me out?" Merle asked, his pitch incredibly high. "Jus' gonna kick me out like some dog?"

It wasn't as though this was an easy decision for Daryl to make - hell, it was the most difficult one that he had ever made - but the youngest brother knew that he didn't have a choice when it came to Merle anymore. His older brother was running himself into the ground, and Daryl had tried his best to encourage Merle to stay away from the shit that had got him sent to jail in the first place, but apparantly, Merle just couldn't help himself.

And Daryl just couldn't support his brother's lifestyle anymore - couldn't fuel it by giving him somewhere to live rent-free, somewhere where he could just lounge around and drink and smoke and inject himself with some dirty old needles. Merle needed someone to give him a kick up the ass, and Daryl could only hope that this was the sort of kick that his brother needed.

"Get out, Merle," Daryl said, staring his brother straight in the eyes as he practically spat out the words.

The two brother's stared directly at each other in complete silence, the looks on both of their faces completely still and completely serious, too. After a good few seconds, Merle stormed past his younger brother, bumping his shoulder against Daryl's aggressively as he made his way out of the kitchen and through the living room. The sound of the screen door slamming to a close signalled to Daryl that Merle had left, and a few moments later the sound of a bike engine revving loudly indicated that his older brother was gone.

Even though Daryl knew that Beth would be waiting for him back in his bedroom, he couldn't bring himself to move. The youngest Dixon brother was undecided over whether or not he was making the right decision, over whether or not this would actually help Merle or just make him even worse than ever before. Daryl continued to just stand in the kitchen for quite some time, just staring at the fridge that his older brother had been rummaging through just a short while before.

Daryl hadn't heard the sound of his bedroom door creaking open, nor had he heard the sound of the floorboards creaking underneath Beth's weight as she made her way into the kitchen where Daryl was stood. The older man didn't flinch when her slim arms wrapped around him from behind, though, holding him tightly to her as she hugged him from behind.

It had been such a long time since Daryl had cried, but in that moment, he broke down. Maybe it was everything that had happened with Merle - the guilt, just eating him up from the inside - or maybe it was the tender way in which Beth was pressing her cheek into his back and holding him closely to her that had his whole body shaking as he sobbed loudly into the quiet space of the kitchen.

Maybe it was a mixture of both, or maybe it was just the stress of the whole situation - but either way, Daryl broke down, finally allowing the walls that he had built up around him so firmly to come crashing down around him. And perhaps he would regret it in an hour or two, or perhaps even in the morning; but in that moment, Daryl couldn't find himself able to do anything other than let Beth Greene in.

* * *

 **From what I've seen from the reviews on last chapter; some of you readers have very different opinions on the Daryl/Merle matter. I've never made it a secret that I struggle with Daryl's POV and I still find it difficult to keep him in character, so I was a little bit unsure on the last chapter.**

 **There are some people who think that Daryl would never get rid of Merle so easily and in a way I do agree with that opinion, but at the same time, in this story it's not just been the two of them drifting along for basically forever... Merle has been in and out of jail for a while, and in his absence Daryl has set up his own business and gone and got himself somewhere to live, and now he has Beth on the scene, too. So he has a lot to keep going for - bills to pay, a business to run, and a girl that he likes - that Merle doesn't have, and more than anything, Daryl just wants his brother to get clean but doesn't know what to do.**

 **And there are also some readers who think that Daryl should have done more/said more to Merle, but then I think as angry as he would be with him, he didn't really see or hear much that happened between Merle and Beth - just the last little bits - and even though he was annoyed, he was a little pre-occupied making sure that things with Beth were OK.**

 **In this story, Merle is a good guy at heart - he's just a little bit misguided, and he won't necessarily be some big problem that will come between Beth and Daryl. It's just a bit of conflict for the story.**

 **As always, thanks for reading and please review!**


	13. Chapter 13

Beth found herself spending the night at Daryl's place.

When she had originally suggested to him in the truck that they go to his home for a little while instead of going out anywhere in particular, Beth had been hoping to herself that maybe something like this would happen - albeit a lot differently, but still for it to happen all the same. The youngest Greene girl had most definitely never even expected for Merle to turn up at Daryl's home, nor had she expected for Daryl to break down in the sudden manner that he had; but in a strange way, Beth found herself feeling somewhat _glad_ about it. Although her heart had broken as she watched the man who had always seemed so strong and so sure to her crumple into pieces before her own very eyes, Daryl's breakdown also allowed for her to see a different side to him that she had never been into contact with before. One that was much softer and more emotional, one that was sensitive and gentle - one that needed care and love and affection.

And Beth Greene was more than willing to provide that side of him with all of those things.

Despite the rough exterior that Daryl had, Beth had been sure to herself for quite a while now that he was a good man - a very good man, at that - and she didn't hesitate to wrap her arms around him and hold him closely as he sobbed, making sure that he knew that he wasn't alone. Finally, Beth allowed her grip on Daryl's upper body to go slack, her arms - numb and tingling from how tightly they had been squeezed around his toned chest and abdominal area - falling limp by her sides, although her cheek had remained pressed against the middle of Daryl's back for a little while longer. Once Daryl's sobs had turned into sniffles and then his sniffles had turned into silence, Beth had pushed herself backwards onto the balls of her feet and gently intertwined their fingers.

Beth knew that Daryl was a lot heavier than her and a lot stronger, too, but the broad man allowed her to pull him away from where he had been rooted to the spot in the kitchen and followed her lead towards his bedroom with ease. There had been a part of Beth that had half been expecting for Daryl to struggle, for him to put up at least a little bit of a fight against her efforts to be attentive towards him. Instead of fighting her, though, Daryl seemed to be past the point of worrying what Beth thought of him and simply followed her towards the bedroom; sitting down on the bed when she gently patted the mattress, and he even allowed for her to remove most of his clothing for him.

Undressing the older man wasn't necessarily uncomfortable or awkward, which Beth thought it probably would have been; although the lack of any such awkwardness was probably due to the fact that the pair of them were mostly caught up in the moment, and Beth wass so focused on making sure that Daryl was comfortable and relaxed that she didn't even have the chance to overthink any of her actions the same way that she would have done had the situation been slightly different.

The action of undressing Daryl was something that was not sexual in any way, and it all came completely naturally to her, too. Her daddy had always told her that she was sweet; someone who was caring and compassionate and empathetic, and they were traits that Beth was more than proud to have. In that moment, Beth knew that Daryl needed someone to take care of him - maybe not physically, but most definitely emotionally, and Beth understood that the argument that he had just had with his brother had been something that was probably necessary, but most definitely unexpected, and she supposed that Daryl was probably still in a state of shock about it all happening.

The cabin that Daryl lived in wasn't necessarily small, but it was small enough that Beth had been able to hear the conversation between the two brothers - even if she had been locked away in Daryl's bedroom at the time. The way in which Daryl delivered his words and the things that he said to his older brother had Beth suspecting that he had already set his mind to what he would say to Merle before the situation had come around, but that didn't necessarily mean that it wasn't hard for him to do.

And even though Beth knew that it was anything but easy for Daryl to kick Merle out of his home, she understood his reasoning behind it, had a feeling that the youngest brother was only trying to help Merle by doing the only thing that he hadn't done so far: by leaving him to sort out his situation for himself.

As far as Beth was concerned, Daryl definitely wasn't fueling Merle's bad habit - although she had known that the older man didn't have the healthiest relationship with alcohol, she had been completely uncertain about his meddling with drugs until Daryl had confirmed those suspicions when he instructed Merle that he needed to _'get clean'._ Still, the young woman knew that it most definitely wasn't her business to stick herself into and start telling Daryl what she thought that he should or shouldn't do, and whilst there was a part of her that actually sympathised with Merle, a much larger part of her sympathised with his younger brother. Daryl was clearly at a loss of what to do to help his brother and it was evident that he felt somewhat responsible for his brother's habit, even if Beth believed that he was bearing the burden of that guilt unnecessarily.

Undressing the older man was something that was strange and very unfamiliar to her. The action itself was not at all sexual and came as something completely naturally for her to do, too. Beth was reminded of the words her daddy always used to describe her - _kind, compassionate, caring -_ and she supposed that she was a naturally maternal person; someone who was more than ready to look after and help others, even if it meant putting her own needs at a lower priority. Those traits were all things that her older sister turned her nose up at - traits that Maggie always seemed to think were weak or immature - but Beth was proud of being the way that she was.

The young blonde knew that her mama and daddy were proud of that, too.

For once, Beth wasn't embarassed or ashamed or even remotely bashful around Daryl, even as she unbuttoned his flannel shirt and pushed it from his shoulders or as she unbuckled his belt and popped open the top button of his jeans. Beth's movements were full of a new found confidence and certainty, and although the young woman knew that she would most likely blush furiously at the memory of all of her actions come the morning, the darkness that enveloped the tight space around the pair of them as the minutes ticked by seemed to be just enough to fuel her and make her behave in a much bolder way than she ever had done before.

But just because Daryl was allowing her to behave in this way was not to say that the older man necessarily approved of it or even enjoyed it, though; nor did it necessarily mean that he was comfortable with anything that she was doing to him, either. Sometimes, Daryl relaxed around her, but other times - times like these - he was a lot more rigid and clearly unsure of himself. Daryl's whole body was tense and stiff when Beth crouched in front of where he sat on the mattress and pulled his faded blue jeans down his thighs, but he allowed her to discard of the clothing onto his bedroom floor along with the rest - until she came to tug at the hem of his plain white tee that he had been wearing underneath the flannel, that is.

When she had reached out to remove that particular item of clothing, Daryl's much larger hands had snapped up quickly and captured her own before Beth's fingertips could even make any sort of contact with the material of his tee. At the sudden movement before her, Beth's big blue eyes naturally lifted up to meet with his, and despite the darkness that swallowed them inside of the room, Beth could just about make out the outlines of his face and his features. The look that he offered to the young woman in that moment was so intense that Beth thought that her legs may as well just give out from beneath her.

They probably would have done that, too; so Beth was relieved that she was still crouching down in front of him as there would have been no possible way that she could have held herself upright if she was in a standing position when he was looking at her like that.

It never really did take much for Beth to be able to take a hint from someone, and she understood the message that Daryl was passing to her loud and clear. The young woman pulled her hands away from where Daryl's were still covering them at the hem of his tee, and she allowed for him to make himself comfortable on his bed wearing just his dark boxers and the plain tee whilst Beth busied herself by changing, too. Beth wasn't all too sure what she was doing - at the point, the older man hadn't invited her to stay with him or even lie down with him, but she had a feeling that he would at least do one of those things.

So Beth slipped out from her own skin-tight jeans that had been plastered onto her legs all day (and boy, did they feel good to remove), relief not even coming close to describing how she felt in that moment. Beth didn't waste another second before she was kicking the clothing away from where it hung at her ankles, leaving it to rest on the floor of Daryl's bedroom with the rest of the clothes that he had been wearing before.

The older man was yet to say a single word to Beth since he had cried his heart out just twenty minutes or so ago in the kitchen, and Daryl was now completely avoiding even glancing at her as she undressed; his back pressed against the mattress of the bed, one of his big arms strung over his eyes that Beth had a feeling were probably squeezed tightly shut.

Beth was just about to open her mouth and ask if Daryl had anything lying around that she could borrow to wear for a little while instead of the cropped number that she was wearing, but before she did, she spied the sleeveless flannel that he had been wearing from earlier scrunched in a ball at her feet. The young blonde bit down on her lip as her eyes flickered between the item of clothing and the man who was lay completely still on the bed before her. After a few seconds, Beth rolled her eyes at her behaviour - it was just a shirt, after all - and bent down to pick it up, removing her own top before replacing it with Daryl's.

She was glad to be out of the clothing that she had been wearing all day at work, and Beth made quick work of fastening half of the buttons on Daryl's flannel so that her chest and her stomach were hidden from view. As she gazed down at the outline of Daryl as he lay on the bed, Beth briefly wondered to herself about whether or not she should really join him or whether that would be too bold and too assuming of her.

Before she could work herself up much more, Daryl's voice rasped through the darkness, calling her over with a simple _"come here"._ The young woman blinked in surprise at the unexpected sound of his voice, but before her mind could overthink anything or worry about it too much, her body seemed to take over; Beth crawling up the bed so that she could position herself down beside him before she even knew what she was doing.

Silence consumed the space around the pair of them once again, and Beth's heart pounded in her chest as she lay on her side watching the dark outline of his chest rising and falling with his breathing. Daryl was quiet, as always, but the sound of his breathing was calming for her. After a few minutes, Beth was unable to resist reaching out and touching him; the darkness of the room most definitely giving her a boost of confidence as she nudged his arm away from his face. Her fingers trailed through his hair then, sweeping it away from his face, and more than anything, Beth was surprised that Daryl was actually letting her touch him like this.

"Do you mind if I stay?" Beth asked, the question slipping from her lips before she could stop herself.

Daryl was quiet for a moment as Beth's hand stilled in his hair before he shook his head from side to side and croaked out a "no".

"I can leave if you like," Beth said, her words rushed in embarrassment. "I don't have-"

"No," Daryl cut her off, silencing her. "Stay." The older man was quiet for a long moment after that, and as much as Beth wanted to acknowledge his words to her - even just with a simple OK - there was something holding her back and preventing her from saying anything at all. "I want you to."

Beth was relieved that Daryl wasn't able to see the surprised expression on her face at his words. "To stay?" she managed to stutter out, her heart hammering in her chest much louder than it had done before.

Beneath her hand, Daryl moved his head to the side so that their faces were much closer, the tips of their noses almost brushing against each other's. "Yeah."

Daryl hadn't said much at all, but it was enough to make her smile brightly; enough to make her want to giggle into the darkness and enough to make her cheesks burn red. "Oh," Beth breathed out, trying to maintain some sense of calm about her, although it was proving difficult when all she wanted to do was kick her legs and squeal like a pre-teen. "Ok."

Beth couldn't be sure who made the first move, but within seconds after her final word, their mouths were on each other's, their tongues dancing and their hands roaming. In the back of her mind, Beth knew that this couldn't go any further than what they were doing - not tonight, not after everything that had happened between the two brother's and everything that Daryl had felt. But she knew that he was looking for some sort of comfort from her, and the young woman was in no place to deny him of it or to reject him - after all, it was what she wanted, too.

* * *

Morning came creeping around much sooner than Daryl would have liked for it to, and as much as the older man would have loved to just lounge around in his bed fast asleep for at least a little bit longer, he had always been an early riser by nature - and now it seemed that his body clock was simply set for work at an early hour every day. The light from the sun wasn't that bright as of yet, but it was enough to light up the room so that he could see everything around him, and as Daryl stretched himself out in bed, he noticed that Beth was still lay fast asleep beside him, her hair all tangled around her face and her breathing soft and even.

At the sight of the blonde sleeping so peacefully beside him, Daryl's lips twitched upwards into a half-smile, all negative thoughts of his jerk of a brother disappearing - at least for a little while. Daryl Dixon most definitely was not used to this; not used to a woman sleeping in the bed beside him, not used to doing nothing all night but exploring that woman's mouth, and most definitely not used to that woman still being there come the morning hours. All of this with Beth was new to him, and although he was more than just slightly out of his comfort zone with everything that came with the small slip of a girl who was quickly taking over his mind, Daryl decided to himself that he had way too much to worry about for him to start worrying and overthinking about what exactly it was that was going on between him and Beth.

The problem was that Beth Greene was not Daryl Dixon's girl.

Daryl knew that she wasn't - that she just couldn't be - because he had never even opened his god-damned mouth and asked for her to be, and Beth most certainly was not the type of woman who would just become his without him even asking her if she would want to be. She was so unlike any of the women who he had ever been with or ever even known, so Daryl knew that it wasn't all just about sex for her - but still, the surly man couldn't help but wonder to himself exactly what it was that Beth wanted from him out of all of this. If the girl wanted to have any sort of relationship, she hadn't mentioned it or even really hinted at it; and Daryl wasn't sure whether he would be able to muster up the courage to ask her for himself about what it was that she wanted.

After all, he had never asked a woman out before, and Daryl had a feeling that he would be pretty shit at it, anyway.

.

.

.

It wasn't that much later in the morning that Beth stirred from where she was still positioned heside him, her arms rising in front of her just so as she stretched outwards, her fingernails brushing along the side of Daryl's bicep as she moved. Beth's unconsious action caused the whole of his upper body to be covered in goosebumps, but Daryl ignored the pleasant sensation of it as he watched her intently, staying impossibly still from where he was positioned beside her so that he didn't disturb her as Beth made the transition from her deep state of slumper to consciousness. Daryl's deep blue eyes remained fixed on her face as Beth rolled onto her back, sticking her chest into the air as she stretched some more and let out a little mewl as she did so before her light blue eyes blinked open.

At first, she frowned in confusion, and the sight alone made Daryl want to laugh - actually _laugh_ \- because there was just something so funny about it. But then the realisation of where she was seemed to hit her, and then Beth was smiling - a smile that was all soft and sleepy and full of unconscious thoughts - and her head was turning in his direction, that small little smile never wiping from her face; not even when she realised that he was awake, too, and that he was watching her.

In fact, that little smile seemed to actually broaden when Beth noticed that Daryl was there.

"Morning," she mumbled out, her voice hoarse from sleep.

Daryl smirked from beside her, still completely out of his comfort zone as he repeated her greeting. Daryl wasn't a man of many words as it was, but this young blonde had him feeling all sorts of nervous and unsure as she wriggled around beside him, trying to make herself more comfortable. In the end, Beth settled for positioning herself onto her side so that she was looking right at him, and it was only then that Daryl actually noticed that Beth was wearing his flannel from the day before.

He must have been staring at it for a good few seconds without even blinking because Beth's brows knotted together in the slightest of frowns, an utterly confused look etching itself across her features as she looked down at herself, obviously trying to notice what it was that he was looking at. Daryl felt guilty for causing the young woman such confusion, but the sight of her wearing his shirt was stirring something so primal within him that he wondered whether he could actually trust himself to move, never mind speak, without doing something stupid.

Something stupid like telling her how badly he wanted her; how long this want had been inside of him, how much he felt like he _needed_ her.

Something stupid like grabbing her hips and pulling her right to him and claiming her lips as his own.

Something stupid like ripping the damned thing off and making her his in all of the ways that he really wanted to.

"I'm sorry," Beth stuttered out, ripping Daryl from his thoughts. The girl looked to be practically petrified, her cheeks burning a deep shade of red and her light blue eyes wide. "I hope you don't mind. I just needed something to sleep in, an' I -"

"S'fine," Daryl cut her off, wishing that he was bold enough to silence her with a kiss. Beth's mouth hung open from where she had been about to continue on with what she was saying before she eyed him nervously, clearly thinking something over in her head as she continued to stare straight at him.

It was only a few seconds later that Beth was smiling at him once again, and then just a few more seconds after that that she was pushing herself closer to him and brushing her lips across his in a barely-there kiss. The blonde pulled away from him for a moment, her eyes searching his - what it was that Beth was looking for, Daryl wasn't completely sure - before she leaned in once more and kissed him again.

And it was all morning breath and tongue and her placing his hand on her hip and him pushing her closer to him. And it was all out of Daryl's comfort zone, all in unchartered and unknown territory as he explored Beth's mouth; all uncertainty as he felt the material of his shirt on her skin and then her body underneath his as he flipped them over.

And as much as Daryl thought that he should probably at least let someone know that he wouldn't be coming down to the bakery to help open up the shop that morning and then help to run the place for the rest of that day, Daryl didn't worry himself too much about it as Beth continued to teach him about all of the things that he didn't know, all of the things that he had never done before. Their actions never strayed further than kissing, and as much as Daryl's strained pants argued otherwise, the surly man was (surprisingly) happy with just doing that with Beth.

Daryl just had the feeling that things between himself and Beth would always burn slowly, and that was more than OK by him.

.

.

.

It was later on in the evening that Daryl dropped Beth off at the farmhouse, the lump in his throat swelling as he pushed open the driver's side door and walked the younger woman up the porch of the house. Daryl had never been the type to do any of this, and as much as he was trying for Beth's sake, he still had no idea what he was supposed to do - how he was supposed to do this right, whether or not his actions were making her happy or whether they were making her uncomfortable.

As far as Daryl could tell, though, Beth was pretty happy with the way that things were going between the two of them. She was smiling and laughing and kept kissing him (which Daryl thought just _had_ to be a good sign), and as they reached the door of the farmhouse, Beth actually looked to be a little bit disappointed that he was leaving her.

"I had a really nice day today," Beth said as she tucked a piece of blonde hair behind her ear, her blue eyes shining as they danced over his face. All that they had done that day was relax together at his place - watched a few movies, eaten a few things and got to know each other a hell of a lot more - so Daryl was relieved that she seemed to have actually enjoyed herself. He really was clueless when it came to what it was that he was supposed to do around women, although Beth never seemed to be too disappointed whenever they were together.

"Me too," he said, nodding his head at her since he was at a loss of what else he was supposed to do.

Beth's eyes danced around his face a little bit more before she stepped towards him, her palm coming to rest against his cheek as she stepped up onto her tiptoes and pressed a chaste kiss to Daryl's lips. The young woman sank back down before Daryl could even react, but even the angelic smile that she flashed him afterwards couldn't stop him from leaning down to her level and kisisng her once again; his teeth nipping down on her bottom lip before her tongue clashed against his.

The kiss was heated for a brief while before it calmed itself down into something much slower and much more light, and in the end it was just the two of them pressing their lips against the other's in brief, soft kisses - anything to drag out the moment for as long as it could possibly go.

"I better get goin'," Daryl murmured against Beth's lips, and the younger woman just nodded her head once before she continued to kiss him again.

"I'll see you soon," she said, her voice low and hushed and her words coming out sounding more like a question than a statement.

Daryl nodded his head in confirmation, enjoying the feel of Beth's lips against his own for one last time before she made a move to turn around and walk a little bit closer towards her front door. Before she could, though, Daryl's hands were reaching out and covering hers, causing Beth to stop in her movements and offer him a confused look.

"I ain't too good at this," he told her, his voice rough from nervousness.

"Daryl," Beth breathed out, her voice soothing and somewhat reassuring. "I-"

"Are you my girl?"

Daryl's question seemed to catch Beth off guard for a few seconds, and his heart thumped against his chest as the blonde blinked up at him, her lips forming a little 'o' in surprise and her eyes all big and wide. Silence seemed to stretch out between the two of them for a little while longer before Daryl started to panic, started to think that maybe he had read this all wrong, that maybe Beth really did want nothing to do with him and his shitty cabin and his shitty life and his shitty brother and that -

"Yeah," she breathed out, a bright smile lighting up her face before she let out a giggle. "I guess I am."

And her words had him feeling all sorts of confused and unsure and overwhelmed, but Daryl didn't hesitate this time to rest his hands on either side of her face and kiss her once again. He knew that things were far from plain sailing - they always were complicated when it came to him and his life - but Daryl had a feeling that Beth Greene was more than worth it.


	14. Chapter 14

**The feedback that I have received for this story has honestly been so overwhelming and I can't express how much I appreciate it all.**

* * *

It didn't take Beth long at all to discover that she loved kissing Daryl Dixon.

At first, the kisses that they shared were mostly chaste - all soft and sweet and simple, fuelled mostly by innocent intentions. Naturally, though, things were beginning to progress between the two of them. The kisses that they shared now were much deeper; turning into something that was filled more with desire and want and lust each time, and Beth realised that she was quickly becoming consumed by a strange yet strong feeling of absolute _need_ whenever things escalated between the pair of them.

The man that she had chosen to be with was more than decent enough about it all, and although Beth knew that his self-control had to be wavering somewhat, Daryl was still always respectful of her and never pushed things too far. More often than not, it was her hands wandering over his body as opposed to him pushing her the same way that Zach had done a few years before, and Beth was happily starting to accept that things were changing between her and Daryl.

Whether or not her man would give in to whatever it was that was happening between them was a different story entirely, though.

And Beth's reputation as the wide-eyed, wholesome farmer's daughter might have still stuck (for now), but so had Daryl's reputation as being all sorts of a bad boy, and the youngest Greene girl knew that the people who lived in town had already began to look at her strangely, to talk about her differently; and that it really was only a matter of time before their opinions of her changed, too - she wouldn't just be sweet little Beth Greene anymore, she'd be something completely different.

 _"Are you **really** all that bothered what everyone in town says?" _is what Sasha had asked her when Beth brought it up to her over the phone a few days before. Her best friend's words were somewhat comforting in that Beth knew that she really wasn't that bothered, really - but the town that they lived in was indeed small, and Beth knew all too well from having witnessed it hundreds of times over with Maggie as an older sister that the congregation of women at the church that her mama and daddy attended sure were judgemental.

So as much as it was only a matter of time before those women's opinions of Beth changed, it was also only a matter of time before they started voicing those changing opinions to her parents.

After Daryl's question to her on the porch - his awkward but adorably sweet way of asking her out still playing over and over in her mind - Beth had rushed straight to her mama with an excited grin plastered across her face and wrapped her arms around the older woman, squealing happily into the small space between them. Annette had been more than surprised at her daughter's behaviour but had simply gone along with it for a little while before curiosity took over her and she asked Beth what exactly was going on.

It had been Annette that told Hershel, too, and Beth's parents both began to express quite an interest in Beth's relationship with Daryl. Neither of them asked her, but Beth knew that both of her parents would have naturally been curious about what was happening between Beth and the youngest Dixon brother and where things would go from here.

"You'll meet him soon, I promise," Beth said to her father the week before when he had asked her when she would be bringing Daryl round to the farm for dinner.

Hershel had knowingly raised one of his thick white brows at his daughter, causing her to grin at him sheepishly before rushing off to work at the diner. And despite the fact that Beth was a little bit nervous about the idea of bringing someone round to meet her parents, she also knew that Daryl would get along just wonderfully with all of her family.

After all, if everyone was happy to accept the fact that Maggie had practically ran away to the city to be with Glenn, then Beth was sure that absolutely nobody would have a problem with Daryl Dixon.

.

.

.

"My parents want to meet you," Beth said.

The pair of them were at the cabin and were lounging around on the mattress, and at her words, Daryl's hands immediately stilled from where they had been playing with the ends of her blonde strands. His deep blue eyes shot up to meet hers immediately, and the man visibly swallowed before opening his mouth.

"Why?"

His question caused Beth to giggle. "What do you mean, why?" she teased, rolling herself over onto her side so that the two of them were positioned almost nose to nose. "'Cause I'm their daughter, and you're... I mean, I'm your girl, right?"

For a second, Beth almost couldn't breathe - she thought about how Daryl really might not be as serious about all of this as she had thought. Perhaps she had misunderstood what it was that he had said, perhaps she had taken it all out of context and all out of hand and that would just be so embarrassing and utterly _humiliating..._

But then Daryl nodded his head immediately, no signs of hesitation on his face, and Beth instantly felt relief was over her.

"Good," she breathed out. "An' that's why they wanna meet you."

There had never been a time when Beth had ever considered Daryl to be at all talkative. In general, he was quiet - never really saying anything at all unless he felt it important to voice his opinion on the matter; but there were still times when he would chatter away at her, particularly if he was talking to her about work or about how he used to go hunting when he was a little bit younger and had a bit more free time.

Now, though, Daryl was deathly silent (to the point where Beth wondered if he was even breathing because it definitely didn't sound like it, especially considering how close they were pressed together in the space of the bed) and simply just stared at her, not giving anything at all away to indicate anything that he was thinking or feeling.

It was a good few seconds later that Daryl let out what sounded like a huff of breath, and then he nodded his head once; the action so small that Beth would have probably missed it had her eyes not been locked onto his, watching and waiting for anything at all to give her some sort of hint about what was going through his head in that moment.

"Alright," Daryl said to her, and although his tone of voice was a little bit wary and made him sound even somewhat suspicious, Beth couldn't help but break out into a dazzling smile and throw her arms around his neck, pushing them tightly up against each other.

"Thank you," she murmured into the crook of his neck, her smile never fading, even when Daryl didn't say anything back to her about it. The older man did wrap his arms around her slender waist, though, and he held her body closely to his own as though she might disappear if he didn't clutch on to her in such a desperate manner.

In the end, the pair of them dozed off together in that exact position; Beth waking up an hour or so later to find that Daryl had rolled them over so that he was resting with his back pressed against the mattress and so that Beth was lay on top of him, her legs locked around his hips and her arms tightly wound around his neck. And although the position was slightly compromising and although it had the two of them pressing against each other in all sorts of ways that they never had done before, Beth couldn't resist the urge to smile in spite of it all and nuzzle herself further into Daryl's neck, her light blue eyes drifting to a close before she fell back asleep once more.

.

.

.

Daryl meeting Hershel and Annette Greene was actually not quite as awkward as Beth had imagined that it would be. The young blonde recalled the way in which Daryl had behaved around her before she had been given the opportunity to get to know him - the way in which he would struggle to make eye contact with her, never mind actually speak to her or make any effort with conversation - and couldn't help but worry that the first few meetings with her parents would take a similar route.

Even though Daryl still didn't say much, he did say some things, and they were clearly the right things to say, too. He had driven to the farm on his motorcylce, but he had chosen to wear a helmet and carried it inside the house with him, too. Whether or not he had done it consciously or not, Beth couldn't be sure, but the young woman knew by the way her daddy's lips twitched up when he saw it that Hershel approved of the fact that he was at least driving safely.

In ways, it was everything that she thought it would be, though - it was Daryl shaking her daddy's hand and her mama kissing Daryl's cheek and inviting him inside to sit down whilst she and Beth finished off cooking the food, giving Hershel the opportunity he was obviously waiting for to speak with Daryl about what his intentions with Beth were and what was going to happen between the two of them.

"He's handsome," Annette whispered to Beth as the younger of the two chopped up the carrots.

Beth shot her mama a knowing look and tried her best to hold back the smile that was threatening to slide onto her face. "Don't act so surprised," Beth told her mother. "I know you've seen him around town before."

"Never this close, though," Annette countered. The two women were quiet for a little bit longer before her mama spoke again. "He seems nice."

"He is," Beth said with a firm nod of her head.

Annette chose not to say anything more to her daughter about Daryl after that, and instead of offering Beth a verbal response, her mama simply looked down at her daughter for a long few seconds before a soft smile graced her features. Beth returned the smile to her mama before she looked back at the carrots and resumed her job of chopping once again, but from the corner of her eye the young woman could see that he mother was still looking at her for a few seconds longer before she got to work on peeling the rest of the potatoes.

Dinner passed by quite quickly, and Beth found herself sittingnext to her daddy whilst her mama sat herself down at the table next to Daryl, each couple facing across from each other. Beth made sure that she kept offering reassuring glances and smiles to Daryl and, on a few occasions, found herself brushing her foot up against the leg of his jeans. Each time she did that, Daryl's head would shoot up from where he was looking at his plate - the surprised expression on his face one that Beth wished that she could take a picture of - and every time he did, Beth had to stifle a giggle. Her face must have said it all, because after the first couple of times, Daryl started to prod her with his own foot, too; and the corner's of his lips were soon turning up in a small smile that had Beth's heart feeling as though it was melting inside of her chest.

"Why don't you go an' show Daryl around the farm, Bethy?" her mama suggested after dinner, and Beth immediately looked over to where Daryl was still sat at the table talking to her daddy.

At the mention of his name, Daryl had looked over at the two women, and his deep blue eyes locked with Beth's almost immediately. Although Beth knew that Daryl wouldn't stick up his nose at the suggestion, she still felt a little nervous as she smiled at him all shyly, tucking a piece of her hair behind her ears before blinking over at him.

"Would you like to?" Beth asked, and Daryl nodded his head before excusing himself from the table, following her lead outside onto the farmland. "I could take you to go and see the horses if you like," Beth suggested as the two of them made their way across the fields with no particular destination in mind, and Daryl just shrugged his shoulders in response to her suggestion. The younger woman knew that Daryl wasn't being rude to her, though, and took his non-verbal answer as a confirmation that he really wouldn't mind where they went.

Once the pair of them reached the stables, Beth wasted no time in introducing Daryl to her horse, Nelly. She knew that she was rambling on about the horse as she grabbed a brush and began to come it through Nelly's hair, but Daryl didn't really seem to mind her talking much at all. In fact, it looked like he was really listening to everything that she was saying, and it peaked her interest in what he was like with these animals.

"Do you ride?" Beth asked him, pausing in her movements so that she could make eye contact with Daryl.

Her light blue eyes were practically shimmering with excitement and playfulness, but Daryl shook his head at her. "Nah," he said dismissively, eyeing Nelly a little bit nervously when the horse let out a huff before looking over at Beth once more. "Don't mind 'em none, s'just... Not really much o' a rider."

"Prefer your bike?" Beth asked him, smiling over at him suggestively before she returned her attention to brushing Nelly's mane.

Even though Beth wasn't necessarily looking at him anymore, the smirk on Daryl's face was difficult to miss.

"Somethin' like that," he told her, and Beth let out a little laugh at his response.

* * *

The whole relationship that Daryl had going on with Beth was completely new and unchartered territory for Daryl, and as far as things went with the younger woman, he didn't have a fucking clue what he was doing. Sure, it had been him who had asked her whether or not she was his girl, but at the time - when he had been stood there on her daddy's porch, feeling all sorts of excited and unsure - Daryl had thought to himself that whatever answer she gave him would be able to clear things up for him and make whatever it was that was going on between the two of them easier for him to control and manoeuvre.

Apparantly, though, he had been wrong about that.

Not just wrong - really, _really_ wrong, because everything that was flickering between him and Beth was completely out of his control, and he knew that now. It wasn't as though he necessarily had any sort of problem with it being that way, though, but all along he had thought to himself that he would be able to handle of this with ease - handle everything that came with Beth Greene and being her boyfriend - but now it seemed to him as though that was going to be practically impossible for him to do.

It was plain for Daryl to see (and probably everyone else in town, too) that it was Beth who called the shots when it camed to all things regarding their relationship, not him; and Daryl only knew of one word that his older brother would describe that as: _whipped._

The idea of Merle calling Daryl that got the younger Dixon brother's back up a bit, though, because it wasn't like Daryl was Beth's bitch. As far as he was concerned, he was far from it. Sure, he liked doing things for Beth - things like picking her up from work and bringing her food back from the bakery ('cause _damn,_ the girl beamed at him like he had brought her a diamond when he brought her home a baguette). Daryl enjoyed taking Beth out places, too, although they hadn't really been on all that many dates (which he definitely had to fix), but he figured that it was because they both worked a lot and worked hard, too.

And as much as he wanted to be the guy who would take her out on the town and to all sorts of fancy restaurants and expensive places, it seemed as though Beth was just mostly perfectly happy lounging around doing nothing with him.

Which was his idea of perfect, too, so Daryl supposed that they were both in control on that front of things.

"Why a bakery?" Beth asked him as she ran her fingers over his face.

The pair of them were sat on his couch in the cabin and it hadn't been long since they had arrived back from her daddy's farmhouse. It wasn't as though Beth was living at his place or anything, but she was starting to spend the odd night there with him every once in a while, and now she had a few things of hers lounging around the different rooms of his home.

Surprisingly, Daryl found that he didn't mind at all - the sight of her belongings didn't make him feel as though he was trapped or being pushed into some sort of commitment that he couldn't keep up. Instead, Daryl found that he actually _liked_ it, and even though he hadn't said any of that to Beth, he had a feeling that she knew.

The girl seemed to be able to read him like a god damned book.

"Dunno," Daryl said, shrugging his shoulders. Her thumb traced the space in between his eyebrows and she pressed down slightly as she glided the pad of her thumb down his nose, her movements immediately causing him to think that she was straightening out his frown lines that were there.

Immediately, Daryl tried to stop himself from frowning, but it didn't work. In fact, it just seemed to make him frown even more prominently, causing Beth to drop her hand back down to her side and let out a giggle.

"So no reason?" Beth probed, and Daryl shook his head. From where she sat across from him, her knees tucked underneath her chin, Beth smiled knowingly and raised a brow. "At all?"

Hiding anything from the youngest Greene girl was practically impossible. Not that he wanted to, but there were times when Daryl just didn't know how to tell Beth certain things that she wanted to know - things about his past; about his messed up family and his shitty childhood and his all-round fucked up life. Although she didn't push him too hard, she would always press on with the subject as gently as she could and attempt to get him to share something with her.

Usually, her tactics worked, and once again they had a positive effect on him.

"There wasn't a bakery in town," Daryl said, and Beth nodded her head at that.

"So it was just a good business choice, then?" she asked, sounding genuinely interested in all things regarding the bakery and how it came to be his.

Sometimes, it surprised Daryl that Beth was actually interested in him and his life and what he did. He had been so used to being kicked down by everybody that he had ever met that it had never even occured to him that one day, someone might actually be interested in anything that he had to say. Daryl knew from the moment that he had laid eyes on her and heard her melodic laugh that Beth Greene was different to all the people - all the girls - that he had ever met before her, but there were moments when it all still took him by surprise.

Mostly, it was just that there were still moments when _she_ took him by surprise.

"Guess so," Daryl said with a shrug of his shoulders. "An' I..." He cleared his throat and sent his eyes flying in the direction of the television (where some old re-runs of whatever were playing), knowing that he wouldn't be able to make eye contact with her whilst he shared some more information about himself. "When I was a kid, pa never had shit in t'eat. Figured... I'd be good with food. Make nice shit that I could sell for cheap, so if any o' the kids 'round here ever need food... I dunno." He cut himself off then with a shake of his head. "S'just stupid."

"It's not," Beth said then, and Daryl chanced a glance at her. From what he saw on her features, Beth looked genuinely offended by his last statement. "It's anything but stupid. That's so _nice_ of you."

Never one to know how to respond to praise (it wasn't as though he was at all used to it, to be fair), Daryl just let out a _hmmm_ noise that served as a half-assed agreement before his deep blue eyes darted back to the television set across the room.

Before he could even blink, though, both of Beth's soft hands were cupping either side of his stubbled jaw and she was gently tugging at him, silently asking for him to turn his attention back towards her. Without a second thought, Daryl turned his face - which was still in her hands - in her direction and locked his eyes with her own. Once he had been staring at her for a good couple of seconds, Beth's body seemed to relax slightly and she shuffled herself forward on the couch so that she was closer to him.

"You're such a good man," Beth murmured, her voice hushed and low. Daryl scoffed at that and moved to hang his head sheepishly, but Beth's hands were still cupping his face so that he couldn't.

At the sound of Daryl scoffing in response to her words, Beth frowned. "You _are_ ," she told him, her voice so sure and so confident that it actually was starting to convince him that maybe she was right. Her eyes danced across his own for a few more silent seconds before she spoke again. "You're such a good man and I'm so happy that I'm yours."

That was all that she said then, and without any other warning, Beth pushed herself further forwards so that she could press a kiss to Daryl's lips. Her hands were still cupping his face and Daryl's own arms instinctively wrapped themselves around Beth's slender shoulders, tugging her closer to him so that her body was resting in between his legs, her chest brushing against his own as they kissed.

To start with, the kiss was innocent enough, but within seconds it grew much more intense and heated; all tongues and clashing teeth and nibbled lips, and Daryl felt himself going a little bit dizzy when Beth's hands crept lower so that she could explore his chest. They had only ever reached this point a couple of times before, but Daryl had always been the one to end it, the one to pull himself away, reminding himself over and over in his head that he wasn't even good enough to kiss Beth Greene, never mind actually lay his hands on her.

But now that Beth's hands were wandering over his body, Daryl found himself growing bold. Her soft yet firm words had stirred something unexpected within him and it didn't take much for Daryl to let go of all of the worries that he had been harbouring and for him to allow his own hands to wander over Beth's body, groaning into her mouth when she eagerly pushed herself up tighter against him at the sensation of his touch.

Things seemed as though they might be spiralling quickly out of control, but Daryl let himself go and just went with everything that was happening in the moment.

Besides, the older man had already accepted the fact that when it came to Beth Greene, she was the one who called the shots - not him.


	15. Chapter 15

**Aaaaand this is where it starts to get M-rated.**

* * *

As the weeks of August moved on into September, the routine that Beth had made for herself throughout the duration of her summer holidays changed almost immediately. The final year of her degree in social work was going to be starting up again at the end of the month, so the young blonde was trying her best to cram in as many extra hours as she could working at the diner so that she could make some extra money before her classes began.

In the meantime, Beth was making sure that she was sending as much of her money as she possibly could into her savings account that she had set up several years before. As much as Beth would have liked to carry on working as many hours as she was at the moment, she had to bear in mind the fact that she had an eight and a half thousand word research report due to hand in to her tutor in a couple of months time alongside several other big assignments that all counted towards her final grade. As much as Beth wished that she could reap the benefits of working right now, she also knew that she would be much better off using that money when she actually really needed it - and that definitely wasn't now.

With the start of September also came mentions of her upcoming twenty first birthday, which fell in early October, along with hints to presents and questions over what it was that she would like to do to celebrate it - whether she wanted a big party or a small gathering, whether she would like her family to all come down or whether she was happy with it just being herself and her parents. As much as Beth insisted to Annette and Hershel that she really didn't want anything much at all - maybe just a few new clothes to update her wardrobe with now that winter would be quickly moving in (and now that her friends would most likely be insisting that she join them whenever they went out to the local bars and clubs considering the fact that she was now officially legal to drink, too) and some more books for her course.

But it seemed as though every time Beth tried to brush off all mentions of her birthday, Annette and Hershel would just glance over at each other and smile knowingly, and Beth was already confident that her parents - and perhaps her other family members, like her sister and her brother - were already planning something that was far too big for what she had in mind.

The thing was, though, Beth Greene wasn't the sort of girl who ever really told a lie, and she definitely wasn't lying when she said that she didn't want anybody making a fuss over her or making a big deal out of her birthday. Really, she wasn't just saying it - she _meant_ it.

Apparantly, though, Hershel and Annette had other ideas completely, and Beth didn't even want to begin to imagine what big extravaganza her parents would have in mind for the occasion. Either way, the youngest Greene girl knew for a fact that her family's idea of celebrating a birthday - especially an "important one" such as a twenty first - was _anything_ but small and simple.

.

.

.

"I missed you."

Beth murmured the words against Daryl's lips, enjoying the way that his own responded to her so confidently and so certainly now.

Over the past couple of weeks, things between the two of them had only seemed to grow more and more heated and intense; and although Daryl was yet to remove his shirt in front of her (Beth had a pretty strong feeling that there was something more going on there that she didn't quite understand, but that she wasn't ready to ask yet, either), Beth had found herself completely naked from the waist up before his deep blue eyes on several occasions now. Things between them were now overstepping the mark of what she had done in the past with her ex-boyfriends, and Beth had to admit that she was anything but confident when it came to this side of things with their relationship.

The young woman had always had what she considered to be pretty small breasts. It was never anything that Beth had necessarily been self-conscious about or worried about as she was growing up, but it had most definitely been something that she had noticed when all of her friends were going through puberty and when she had an older sister who had been gifted in that department, too. Her chest wasn't exactly a part of her body that she was comfortable or secure with, at the very least, but all of the negative and unkind thoughts that she had about herself went straight out of the window as soon as Daryl's hands and mouth were upon her skin, though.

Because apparantly, her breasts - no matter how small they were - were a huge hit with the baker.

So here she sat now, perched on the couch with her lover; his big hands wrapped tightly around her waist, one pressed firmly against the curve of her back and the other grabbing at the firm flesh of her ass through her leggings. At some point in the evening, Beth had found herself straddling the older man, and both of her hands had immediately wrapped loosely around his neck so that she could play with the ends of his hair at the back of his head. Her plain tee shirt had long been discarded of - thrown sloppily on the floor of his cabin, completely forgotten about, and her whole upper body was on sight for him.

Although Daryl never returned her affectionate words (which seemed to be flowing from her tongue more and more frequently these days), Beth no longer doubted herself as much as she used to whenever silence was the answer that she received from him. Instead, Beth was beginning to understand that just because Daryl was quiet didn't mean that he didn't feel the same way towards her as she did towards him - it was just that she had to look past the verbal side of things and concentrate more on what it was that he was telling her in other ways; ways that were silent and easy to miss.

But once Beth had realised that Daryl preferred to communicate with her through his actions as opposed to his words, she began to pick up on all of the things that she had been missing before she chose to pay him this much attention.

Things such as the way that he looked at her whenever she said these sorts of gentle and almost loving words to him: like she had just spoken some of the most meaningful words that Daryl Dixon had ever heard from anybody who had ever been in his life before. Like she had just offered him the whole world on a plate and told him that it was his to keep.

The way that Daryl looked at her sometimes really could throw her partially off-guard and leave her to be nothing more than a stuttering, blubbering mess, but Beth figured that the older man had to have some sort of idea about just how intense his gaze could be when he really wanted it to be.

But then other times, Beth couldn't help but wonder to herself about whether he really meant for it to be that way, or whether he really didn't realise at all.

Before Beth could even blink her eyes shut, both of Daryl's arms were gripping even more tightly at her waist and then he was flipping them over easily so that he was hovering over her, both of his arms naturally falling over her, his palms flat against the couch and positioned on either side of her head. The sudden movement had caused Beth to let out a girlish squeal in genuine surprise, but then the young woman broke out into a light fit of giggles when he moved her so that her bare back was pressed firmly against the cool material of the couch.

"Daryl!" she squealed out, giggling when he leaned down so that his face was pressed against the flesh of her neck; the scruff of his beard tickling against the sensivite skin there, his lips ghosting over her in a feather-light touch.

The giggles that Beth had been letting out just seconds before rapidly turned into low and sultry moans, and it wasn't long before her light blue eyes were flying wide open at the feel of Daryl beginning to place open mouthed kisses along the side of her neck and down to her collarbone. The action caused Beth's nipples to grow alert almost immediately, and then the pale skin of her arms followed suit by being covered in goosebumps.

When she shuddered, Beth was absolutely certain that she could feel just the slightest hint of a smirk on Daryl's lips as he continued his exploration of her neck, his tongue trailing down further and further, nipping and sucking at different sections of her creamy skin. All that his kisses did was encourage Beth to moan out his name even louder than before into the dimly-lit cabin, her light eyes inadvertedly drifting shut in pleasure the second that she felt his wet tongue dance across the surface of one of her nipples.

And she had been topless before him several times now, yes, but Daryl had never been this bold or this brave around Beth before. The foreign sensation of his mouth latching on to her nipple was all too much yet equally not enough, and Beth's hips began to move of their own accord as she whimpered out into the space of the cabin, her body desperately searching for friction.

Beth found that friction in the form of Daryl's thigh.

The blonde was usually a lot more uncertain when it came to these sorts of things - she may have taken more of a lead role in other aspects of their relationship, but most definitely not sexual ones - but thankfully, her instinct seemed to take over her as Daryl sucked at her breast, and her pelvis began to grind down against Daryl's thigh urgently. The rhythm of her own movements combined with the sensation of Daryl's tongue flicking against her sensitive bud had Beth panting as she tugged on Daryl's growing hair, her light eyes squeezing tightly shut in concentration as she allowed herself to relax and just _feel._

That evening, Beth Greene didn't come, but the blonde told herself that it didn't matter much at all whether she did or whether she didn't - that night, at least. It wasn't as though Beth had any idea on what it was that she was missing out on (despite the fact that her friends all loved to rub her nose in it that she was still waiting to experience an orgasm for herself) and even though she didn't quite see stars, what she had been doing with Daryl that evening had seemed pretty close in comparison all the same.

If this was as good as it got, then Beth Greene had a feeling that she would never be complaining.

* * *

The town sheriff had been best friends with the baker for as long as the pair of them could both remember. Together, the two of them had been through so much - relationships and weddings, losses and heartbreak alike - and as far as Daryl Dixon was concerned, Rick Grimes was not just any old friend. No, Rick was his brother, his _family;_ and maybe that wasn't the case by blood, but it certainly was by choice, and to the pair of them, that said a lot more.

So when Daryl's phone began to vibrate loudly from where it had been resting peacefully against the surface of his wooden bedside table shortly after half past nine in the evening, Daryl didn't allow himself to think too much of it when he spotted that it was Rick's caller ID that was flashing up on his far-too-bright screen. Instead, the baker stretched over his mattress and swiftly picked up the device in one of his big hands, rubbing at one of his eyes with the back of his palm as he grunted out a muffled _"ello"_ down the line as he answered the call.

The surly man hadn't been sleeping, but he had most certainly been getting there, and his voice was even rougher than usual as a result of that. "Have I disturbed you?" Rick drawled down the end of the line in a form of greeting, and Daryl stifled a groan at the tone of voice in which his friend had taken that evening.

The two men knew each other far too well by now, and Daryl knew that he could easily recognise if something was wrong with Rick just by the way in which he addressed things. From the tone that Rick had taken, Daryl was safely placing his bets on the fact that things weren't necessarily quite right on the sheriff's end of the line.

Even though Rick couldn't see him, Daryl shrugged his shoulders and scratched the back of his head for a moment as he offered Rick a sweet and simple "nah", knowing that the sheriff wouldn't need much - if at all any - coaxing when it came to getting to the point of what it was that he wanted to say.

After letting out a long, heavy sigh, Rick spoke again. "I need you down at the station, brother," Rick said, and Daryl could practically picture the other man running one of his hands over the barely-there scruff of stubble that rested on his chin and his upper lip.

But Rick's words definitely didn't pack much of a good meaning to them, and Daryl already knew what it was that they meant and where it was that this conversation was going before the question even slipped out from his lips.

"Why?" Daryl asked, his eyes narrowing in suspicion as he stared straight in the direction of his bedroom door. Down the other end of the phone, Rick hesitated; and as silence followed his question, Daryl threw the covers off from where they had been positioned over his bare legs and made a move to stand upright.

After a few more beats of silence, Rick sighed again - much more gentle this time, and Daryl could tell that Rick really didn't want to have to be having this conversation with him right now.

"It's Merle," the sheriff told him, drawing out each word as though it would help Daryl process the information more easily.

The truth was though that Daryl was definitely not surprised in the slightest, and there wasn't a single part of the baker that had actually needed his friend to confirm the fact that the reason he was needed down at the station was because Merle had been arrested. If he was being honest with himself, then he would say that he had known deep down as soon as he saw Rick's caller ID flashing up on the phone at this time on a usually standard night that it would be something to do with his older brother.

Daryl wasn't in the mood for playing bonding time with his inner self, though, and he definitely didn't want to start dwelling on what lay in his unconscious thoughts.

Not even bothering to ask - or stay on the line long enough to find out - what it was that Merle had gone and gotten himself arrested for this time, Daryl quickly mubled to the sheriff that he would get down to the station as soon as he could before he ended the phone call, tossing the device onto the bed behind him so that he could busy himself with the task of getting dressed.

It wasn't as though Daryl put himself to bed this early every single night; as most nights, he would stay up looking over his accounts or checking over the invoices for the bakery before he went to bed sometime around ten or ten thirty; but tonight, he had just walked straight in from working a long, hard day and had wasted not even a minute in getting himself something to eat and then throwing himself down into his bed.

And Daryl had bailed his brother out of the slammer plenty of times before, so he knew the whole song and dance that came with this routine. But the brothers were most definitely not in their late teens and early twenties anymore, and all of this had gotten old a long time ago, so now it was just plain boring. The situation that Daryl now found himself in was frustrating, particularly when he considered the fact that he would be waking up to open the bakery first thing in the morning, and if he wanted to see Beth at the diner, then he had to get up even earlier so that he could stop by there and then get himself some breakfast.

Now that he thought about it, Daryl would have probably just decided to take the day off for himself as it probably would have been easier; but like the dumbass that he was, he had gone and opened his big mouth earlier on and told Rosita that she could take the damned day off, all because of the fact that she had been extra annoying on her shift with him that day. At the time, Daryl had thought to himself that it would be a lot easier for him to just work by himself as opposed to having her there to 'help' him, but now that his brother had gone and gotten himself arrested, Daryl knew that things weren't going to be so simply after all.

It didn't take long for the youngest Dixon brother to get himself ready; throwing on an old pair of grey sweats that hung loosely around his hips and leaving on the dark t-shirt that he had already been wearing when Rick called, not bothering to grab a jacket as he made his way out of the cabin and into the cool night air.

.

.

.

"Thanks for callin' me," Daryl said as he walked towards the automatic doors that led in and out of the town police station, his eyes locked on the back of Merle's bald head as his older brother made his way inside Daryl's truck. Once the passenger door was shut behind him, Daryl turned around so that his eyes met with Rick's; the sheriff standing patiently behind him, a sympathetic smile on his face.

Without warning, Rick reached up - Daryl had always been slightly taller than the other man - and gave him a couple of claps on the back of his shoulder before he nodded his head at the baker, dipping his sheriff's hat slightly as he did so. "Anytime, brother," Rick said with a smirk as he straightened himself up. The sheriff's bright blue eyes narrowed as he looked out towards Daryl's truck, seeming to scrutinise the vehicle before he looked back to Daryl. "You give me a call if he gives you any trouble. An' make sure tha' you be careful 'round him."

At the sheriff's words, Daryl let out a scoff, his chest puffing out as he stood up taller. "I can handle Merle," Daryl told Rick, his tone confident and sure.

If there was one thing that Daryl was certain of, it was that his older brother was an asshole. A loud-mouth, good-for-nothing, rude, ignorant and straight-up disrespectful bastard.

But despite it all, Merle was still his brother; and if you could find the time to look within yourself to see past the bald man's bold words and his cocky laughter and his general bravado, Merle was a pretty harmless guy the majority of the time. So long as he was away from the drugs and the booze, he could also actually be half decent when he wanted to be, but Daryl was struggling when it came to ideas of what he could do to help his older brother.

From where he stood opposide to him, Rick eyed Daryl with a look that the man just couldn't quite place. "I know," Rick murmured to his friend, his voice low and quiet, but strong, too. "It ain't that. I mean... It ain't jus' _you_ that I'm worried about."

As the two men stared at each other with narrowed eyes and uncertain expressions for a few more minutes, it dawned upon Daryl exactly what it was that his friend was trying to say to him. Although Daryl was still yet to talk to the sheriff about his new relationship, he knew better than anyone else around here just how quickly word and rumours could spread in a small town like this, so the baker had already been quite confident that Rick would already have heard that Daryl Dixon was dating the youngest Greene girl.

Now that Rick had said that, Daryl was absolutely certain that the sheriff knew.

Rick broke the eye contact that the two of them had been holding as he hung his head low and let out a sigh, placing his hands on his hips as he shook his head. When Rick looked back up at Daryl again, the sheriff was biting down on his lip, looking more than just a little bit torn over what his next choice of words was going to be. "Jus' make sure you watch him around her, alright?"

And Daryl didn't need Rick to tell him to look after Beth - it was something that the baker would do naturally, something that was probably more instinctual than anything else, but he held his tongue and tried not to get too offended about the fact that Rick felt the need to voice his concerns about Beth's safety when it came to his brother.

At the end of the day, so long as she was with him, then Beth Greene would _always_ be safe.

Instead of saying that, Daryl just nodded his head once before he made a move to turn back around so that he was facing the automatic doors once again, spotting Merle's head resting against the window on the passenger side of his truck. "Will do, sheriff," Daryl said, the hint of playfulness evident in his use of Rick's working title and in his tone.

Rick just smirked at his friend and continued to stand on the spot as he watched Daryl make his way out of the doors of the police station and over in the direction of his truck. Daryl could still feel his friend's eyes burning on him as he hopped into the drivers side, and as he sat himself down in the seat next to where Merle was passed out and snoring loudly, Daryl offered Rick a wave of his hand before he put the truck into gear and hurried the way back home.

Of all of the things that Merle could have gone and gotten himself arrested for, his older brother had decided to get in trouble with the law for being drunk and disorderly. It most definitely had not been the charge that Daryl had been expecting to hear when Rick had first called him down to the station, but Daryl didn't even feel guilty about the fact that he had just assumed that Merle had been caught dealing again upon hearing that he had been arrested.

Even though the offence wasn't anywhere near as bad as half of the other shit his older brother had done in the past, it was still pretty bad considering the man had only been released from jail early a couple of months ago - and that had been because Merle had been 'keeping up his good behaviour'.

Daryl had personally never been arrested himself, so he most definitely could not speak from experience, but the baker had a feeling that being arrested for being drunk and disorderly on the streets of this little town was probably not part of the plan when it came to Merle sticking to behaving as well as he possibly could.

.

.

.

Even though Daryl had only seen Hershel Greene's truck a few times before, he knew that he would be able to identify it easily - mostly because of the huge badge on the side and the back that advertised the fact that the vehicle was being driven by a vet. But the sight of Beth's daddy's truck being parked up outside Daryl's cabin had the baker frowning to himself in confusion as he pulled in himself, and he didn't even bother to glance over at Merle - who was still snoring _really_ loudly - as he hopped out of his own baby blue truck. Daryl slammed the door to the driver's side behind him as he trudged up the dirt path that surrounded the front area of his cabin, the sound of stones crunching beneath his feet loud enough to catch anybody's attention.

It was in that moment that Daryl noticed that it was _her,_ not her daddy, who had gone and shown herself up at his cabin and had been waiting for her. Instead of being greeted by the sight of Hershel Greene, Daryl was met with the sight of pretty little Beth Greene. The young blonde had gone and sat herself down on one of the steps that led up to his cabin, both of her elbows resting on her knees and her chin sat snugly in her hands; the smile on her face practically blinding as she blinked up at his approaching form, and Daryl wondered just how long it had been that Beth had been sat here, waiting for him.

The space around the two of them was dark, but the moon was hanging huge in the sky and the pale light that illuminated from it seemed to light up Beth's blonde hair, making it seem even more like some sort of halo around her head than it usually did. Before him, she was beautiful, and he would have compared her to something out of one of his daydream's had she not been much better than that.

Not knowing what to say to her, Daryl opened and closed his mouth several times, ready to ask her one of the obvious questions that was on his mind - something like _"what the hell are you doing here?"_ or _"why are you waiting for me when you know there's a spare key under the mat?"_ or _"did you ask your daddy if you could use his truck?"_ \- when Beth opened her mouth and beat him to the chase of speaking first.

"Hey," she breathed out, adjusting her position so that she could push herself up from where she had been sitting on the step and into a standing position. Without even really thinking about what it was that he was doing, Daryl outstretched his arm and offered Beth his palm in order to help her up, unable to rip his eyes away from the sight of her big blue eyes blinking up at him before she let a small smile grace her features as she accepted his hand.

From where Beth had been sitting on one of the rickety wooden steps, Daryl managed to pull her up to her feet incredibly easily, not even having to use any of his weight to assist him. She was so light - more than easy for him to handle - but he teased her anyway, letting out a low groan so that it sounded as though he was struggling to heave her up to her feet.

"You're heavier than you look," Daryl muttered playfully once Beth was standing on her feet, and the blonde let out a small giggle at his words.

"I am not," she said, her pitch increasing slightly and her eyes widening, too. But Daryl knew that Beth knew that he was just joking, and she hummed out a laugh again before her expression became more serious. "Sorry to just... just turn up like this," Beth said as she motioned towards the steps that she had just been sat on. It looked as if the waitress was about to continue on with what she was saying, her mouth still half-open from where she was about to start speaking, but Daryl noticed the exact moment in which the blonde had laid her eyes upon Merle's unconscious form still waiting in Daryl's truck.

The second that Beth caught sight of his older brother, her expression completely changed. Suddenly, the blonde wasn't easy-going or relaxed at all. In fact, if Daryl had to pick a word to describe the sight in front of him right now, he would say that Beth Greene looked down-right petrified.

 _That_ didn't make him feel much better at all.

"I'm sorry," Beth squeaked out, quickly making a move to apologise to the baker for her intrusion. She was shaking her head back and forth and looked like she was just about to excuse herself, too.

In that moment, Daryl really didn't have much of a clue about what it was that he was supposed to do, but the thought of Beth just up and going after she had only recently arrived and then waited for such a long time for him to get back home made him feel pretty fucking awful, and the older man knew that he couldn't just let her go. Not now; not after all of the effort that she had gone to to get here in the first place, not after _everything._

"Don't be," Daryl told Beth, his own deep blue eyes dancing between where Merle was resting in the passenger seat and where Beth was standing on his porch for a few more seconds. Silence echoed around them, and Daryl naturally lifted up his thumb to his mouth so that his teeth could pull at the nail and the skin surrounding it (a nervous habit of his), his eyes continuing with their flickering.

Picking up on his awkwardness, Beth cleared her throat, but she still looked to be fairly comfortable where she was stood. "I can go -" the blonde began, and at the sound of her saying those words, Daryl panicked. He didn't wait to speak and instead cut her off quickly and sharply.

"No," Daryl told her, shaking his head side to side. "No. Stay. I... You go on inside," he said, motioning towards the door as he pulled out his keys from his back pocket and held them out to her. "I'll deal with Merle," Daryl explained, tilting his head in the direction of the truck.

Even though Daryl knew that having Merle and Beth sleeping under the same roof as each other probably wasn't the brightest idea that he had ever come up with before, he knew that he just couldn't let her go and leave her to go back to the farmhouse. At the same time, he couldn't exactly leave his brother to just sleep in his truck, either - for a start, Merle sure as hell couldn't be trusted not to wake up and take off with the vehicle, and he also needed to keep an eye on him and have a talk with him in the morning before he decided that he would take off.

Reaching her hand out slowly, Beth tentatively accepted the keys from Daryl, her expression more than obviously uncertain. "You sure?" Beth asked him as she tugged the set of keys out of his hand, her big blue eyes blinking up at him from where she stood on the step - still much shorter than he was - with confusion.

Not wanting to spend any more time thinking to himself about just how bad of an idea this was, Daryl closed his eyes tightly shut for a second before flinging them open once again as he nodded his head up and down. "Yeah," he confirmed to her, his voice rough but sure.

No sooner had the word fallen of his lips were Beth Greene's arms wrapped around Daryl's shoulders, and the older man just about had time to suck in a breath before the blonde was pulling his body closer to her own and pressing her lips firmly - and passionately - against his.

In that moment, Daryl realised that whilst it may have been a bad idea to have his brother and his girlfriend staying in the cabin, it was even worse of an idea to say no to Beth Greene. Daryl might not have been with her for a very long period of time, but he knew that he would never be the type of man who allowed his girl to drive all the way to his place just for him to then turn her away.

He kept the idea of going and getting her a key to keep on her own keychain so that she could let herself into his place whenever she wanted to himself for now, not wanting to have that sort of conversation with the waitress right now when he needed to go and get his brother from the truck. Daryl would definitely be bringing that matter up with her, though - and soon, too.

* * *

 **I've been half asleep whilst I've been writing this so please forgive any really obvious errors.**

 **Thanks so much for reading and for all of your lovely reviews, too!**


	16. Chapter 16

**I just want to let you all know that I went back and made a few changes to the last chapter. If you're interested in re-reading it, then I just wanted to say that I edited all of Daryl's POV and added a bit more detail and a few more things in there. I've added about another one thousand words to that last chapter, so if you fancy reading it and letting me know what you think of the new version, then please feel free!  
**

 **As always, thank you for all of your support. It always means so much.**

* * *

By the time that the youngest Dixon brother had hauled Merle out from where he had been snoring in the truck and had then carried him inside and set him down on the couch (trying to make sure that he was positioned somewhat comfortably), he thought that his girl would be fast asleep. But when Daryl finally wandered into his bedroom, he found that the pretty young blonde was sat up and cross-legged on his bed, clearly waiting for his arrival.

At the sight of her sat in such a manner, Daryl's mouth immediately opened so that he could apologise to her for taking so long; and he was about to explain to her about just how heavy his older brother was when the baker noticed that Beth was wearing one of his long sleeved flannel shirts. He couldn't help himself but to do a double take when he realised what it was that he was wearing, and he briefly wondered where she had found it before he realised that he really wasn't bothered either way. Beth had only buttoned up a few of the middle buttons of the shirt so that the smooth and creamy skin of her her upper chest was all on show to his eyes, the body and the arms of the shirt so huge on her small frame compared to how snugly it fit him whenever he wore it.

As much as he knew that he probably shouldn't be staring at her as though she was his next meal, Daryl couldn't tear his eyes away from the sight in front of him, and when Beth noticed that he was staring straight at her outfit of choice, her cheeks burned a darker shade of crimson than they usually did. Her head ducked down as her light eyes glanced over her attire as if she was checking for herself what it was that she was wearing, and the next time that she met Daryl's eyes, she was biting down nervously on her bottom lip.

The baker wondered whether Beth Greene knew what it was that she was doing to him whenever she looked at him like that, because it was like some sort of torture.

"I hope you don't mind," Beth said to him once she had cleared her throat, clearly embarrassed that he had noticed what it was that she was wearing as she began to play with the hem of the shirt. "I just -"

"S'fine," Daryl said, shaking his head as he cut her off. The older man could still remember the first night that she had stayed in the cabin - the first night that she had taken another one of his shirts and worn it to bed - and how that scenario had played out somewhat similar to this one. A soft smile graced Beth's features at his nonchalant attitude, but before he could help himself or talk himself out of it, Daryl had opened his mouth once again. "Looks better on you anyway."

Apparantly, Beth didn't seemed to find what he had said anywhere near as cringe-worthy as Daryl did. In fact, the blonde looked positively delighted, her teeth showing in a smile that could probably dazzle him if he allowed it to. Shifting awkwardly on his feet, Daryl rubbed a hand over his face before he stepped over towards his window and pulled the curtains to a close, allowing the room to fall slightly darker. At some point in his absence, Beth had flicked on the lamp that rested on his bedside table, and the dim light that it gave out was enough to light up the room so that the pair of them could still see each other quite well.

He needed to get himself undressed and ready for bed, but he found himself feeling all sorts of awkward and uncomfortable around her. Even though Beth was his girl now, that didn't mean that he was automatically ready to just show her everything and let her in on everything - hell, he still hadn't shown her the scars on his back, wasn't even sure if he ever would. He'd hinted to her about his childhood, sure, and Beth seemed to just get that he wasn't comfortable removing his shirt in front of her yet, but Daryl didn't know whether he would ever even open up to her about it all.

The silence that had been passing between them as Daryl thought on about all of his insecurities was broken when Beth reached her hand out to him. "Come here," she said in a low voice - practically a whisper - and never being one to refuse her of something that she wanted, Daryl reached out towards her and intertwined his fingers with hers, too.

The baker didn't need the waitress to guide him into bed, but he allowed her to do so anyway, thought that he would give her the chance to take control as she pulled him further towards her. When his knees pushed against the mattress, Daryl allowed himself to bend down and then quickly flopped down so that he was lay on his back and facing the ceiling. From where she was sat beside him, Beth let out a giggle, and after a few more seconds she was leaning over him, her long hair falling all around them - some of it tickling his nose and his face, the rest of it reaching the mattress.

"You're so weird," Beth smiled down at him, her tone playful and teasing.

Daryl smirked straight back up at her and cocked a brow. "You have _no_ idea," he mumured, his own voice low as he wrapped one of his arms around her, resting his palm against the back of her head. Not even a second later Beth's lips were pressing against his own, her tongue probing to meet with his after a few more beats. Immediately, Daryl opened up his mouth to her, letting out a groan when her tongue invaded his mouth and began to fight a battle with his own.

When their kiss finally broke off, both of them were left panting heavily, and Beth let out a breathless laugh as she bumped her nose against his. Daryl allowed himself to relax in the moment with her and enjoy it, too, before he let out a little sigh and opened his eyes, his own dark blue meeting with her light ones.

The question was out of his mouth before he could even realise what it was that he was asking her. "Why did you come here?" Daryl asked, arching a brow as he spoke. His voice was still low and hushed, but the genuine curisoity that came from inside of him was evident in his tone.

At first, Beth didn't say anything at all. Instead, she just shrugged her shoulders at him and acted all coy and unsure, batting her eyelashes as though she was completely oblivious to the reason behind her actions. After a few seconds, though, the young woman seemed to pull herself out of thought and smiled down at him. "I just wanted to see you," Beth murmured, her eyes locked intently on Daryl's. "I didn't realise you wouldn't be here. An' then I thought that I'd just wait for you..."

"You could have jus' come in," Daryl said to her, gently moving his fingers and adding some pressure as he did so, effectively massaging the back of her scalp.

A noise that sounded something similar to that of a kitten purring happily escaped from Beth's lips at the sensation, and her eyes fluttered to a close and then back to an open as she lazily answered his question. "Didn't wanna seem rude," she breathed out, seeming to be concentrating a lot more on the feel of Daryl's hands on the back of her head than she was on what it was that she was saying to him.

Daryl shook his head at her explanation, but Beth's light blue eyes had fallen to a close, so the young blonde couldn't see. "Ain't rude," he murmured to her, watching as she gasped when his other hand moved to one of her shoulders and testingly squeezed the muscle there. Beth's eyes opened wide at the feel of Daryl's fingers on the muscle there, but she didn't seem to be unhappy with his experimental touch - in fact, she looked to be quite the opposite - and her eyes drifted shut after a beat.

Once again, Daryl squeezed down on the muscle there, eliciting a low and long moan from Beth's lips. She whimpered when the hand that had been rubbing at her head became untangled from her thick hair, but then he trailed his nails down her jaw and the column of her throat before he began to apply a similar pressure to her other shoulder, rubbing and squeezing at them both in synchronised movements.

The young blonde whimpered and moaned and sighed as Daryl continued to tease the muscle there for another few minutes. He had never done this before to anybody - never received this sort of attention himself, either, so he couldn't even think about what felt good on himself and apply it to Beth. Instead, he squeezed and pushed and teased her shoulders the same way that he kneaded dough in the bakery, and as simple as the technique was, it seemed to be working a treat.

When Daryl's hands finally pulled away from Beth's shoulders, the young woman seemed to be frozen in her place - her eyes gently closed, her mouth hanging open in pleasure and her breathing even. If he didn't know any better, Daryl would have guessed that his girl had fallen asleep where she was sat; but then her eyes were fluttering open and her mouth was closing and she was letting out another low, sensual groan, the sound heading straight to his pants so that he found himself straining against the material there.

Thankfully, Beth didn't seem to notice his predicament (although how she could blame him after some of the sounds that she had been making, he wasn't sure), and instead she happily followed his lead as he gently pushed her body so that she lay flat against the mattress. Once the baker had shrugged himself out of his jeans (and then had waited for a few moments until his erection had settled down some) he joined Beth in bed, pulling the covers over the pair of them as he rested his head against the pillow.

The two of them had shared a bed on several occasions now, but this time, once Beth had reached over and turned the lamp off, she shuffled backwards so that her back was pressed against his chest - effectively pushing her ass right against his dick. There was a part of him that wanted to curse, but Daryl bit down on his tongue, trying his best to fight against himself from growing hard.

As he tried to distract himself and think of anything and everything but Beth Greene's ass, the young woman had other ideas and reached her arm around so that her hand found his much larger one. Once their fingers were securely intertwined, Beth pulled Daryl's hand so that his arm wrapped around his waist, loosening her grip on his fingers when she was more confident that he wouldn't move away. He was stiff at first, but then Daryl relaxed and let out a long breath, moving his head so that it was closer to hers and so that his nose was buried in her soft hair.

Without even noticing what he was doing, Daryl inhaled deeply, revelling in the sweet scent of her. His lips pressed gently against the back of her scalp, and then his chin was resting on the top of her head as she snuggled further into him. The blonde let out a small sigh into the darkness and then it was silent around them; the only sound was that of their soft and steady breathing filling the room, both of them content in their sleep filled state.

* * *

It was the sound of loud shouting echoing around the thin walls of the cabin that woke her up in the first place, her eyes snapping wide open at the sound of it, and then it was the sound of something - something that sounded like glass - smashing against the wooden floor that caused her to jump up violently in Daryl's bed, her heart pounding loudly in her chest and her eyes even wider than before. Immediately, Beth noticed that she was alone in Daryl's bedroom - something that she most definitely had not been just a few hours before - and the door to it was shut tightly to a close so that the blonde couldn't even peak out of the door and get any sort of view as to what was going on in the living room of the cabin.

Even though Beth couldn't see what was going on outside of the bedroom door, she could hear most of what was said pretty well despite the fact that she wasn't actually trying to listen to what it was that the two deep voices were saying. The girl recongised Daryl's voice without hesitation, and then it was Merle's voice who followed shortly after.

In her sleepy state the waitress had initially forgotten all about what had happened the night before and the way in which Merle had been passed out in the passenger seat of Daryl's baby blue truck, but the sound of the older man's voice booming through to her ears instantly had Beth remembering everything that she had seen the night before.

Had it been anyone else in the entire town but her boyfriend's older brother, then the blonde may have just found the whole scenario slightly amusing - perhaps even quite funny - but it was Merle, so naturally, she didn't.

But it wasn't as though Beth hated Merle or had much of an issue with him, really. The man was Daryl's older brother and the only family that her boyfriend actually had left, so Beth knew that in her heart, she would never be able to find it within herself to hate him - not unless Daryl did, anyway; but even then Beth wasn't sure that she would be able to muster up the negative energy to really despise him.

Beth Greene had never hated anybody in her entire life. There definitely wasn't even that many people who lived in this town that she actually disliked, never mind hated, considering the fact that it was extremely rare for her not to get along well with somebody. It wasn't as though the blonde was best friends with a lot of people in town, but she was polite and kind to everyone who she crossed paths with and always tried her best to see the good in people and not to judge them, and most people who lived in town seemed to respect that and like that about her.

Well; everyone except for Merle Dixon, of course.

The young woman was still kind of tired, though - after all, she and Daryl _had_ had a late night the night before - and as much as she wanted to know what was going on in the other room, she also knew a lot better than to go poking her nose in where it wasn't wanted or needed, for that matter. Despite the fact that Beth's curious streak had her immediately interested in knowing what was going on between the two brother's that had the pair of them arguing so loudly (and apparantly violently, too, if the muffled grunts that she could hear were anything to go by) and what had been the cause of their ruckus, Beth also knew that Daryl probably wouldn't appreciate her nosying around.

Besides, despite what was going on on the other side of the bedroom door, Beth knew in her heart that she was safe so long as Daryl was there. She didn't need anybody to tell her that the older man would never allow any harm to come to her, especially not from his own kin. The baker looked after her better than anybody else probably could do, and Beth knew in her heart that he would always protect her.

With that knowledge set in her mind, the young blonde allowed her light blue eyes to drift back to a close once more, and even though sleep didn't find her quite as quickly or as peacefully as it had done the night before when she had been wrapped up in Daryl's strong and warm arms, it found her nonetheless.

.

.

.

The next time that Beth's eyes fluttered open, she found herself surrounded by silence.

Sometimes, silences could be peaceful, but this sort of silence most definitely wasn't - in fact, it was almost _eery._ Everything seemed so still and so quiet around her - the shouting and the smashing from earlier on all disappeared now - and Beth was careful as she pushed herself from Daryl's bed and padded her way around the bedroom that she didn't make too much noise as it would all sound far too loud in the quiet space of the cabin.

All that Beth wore was her underwear and Daryl's flannel shirt, but the shirt was big enough on her that it fell down to the middle of her thighs. The bedroom doar creaked loudly in protest when she pulled it open, and Beth couldn't help but wince as the sound invaded her ears. As she eased her way into the living room of Daryl's cabin, she inadvertedly let out a quiet gasp at what she saw.

One of the couches had been pushed over so that it had fallen on its side, and the television had fallen from its stand (although it thankfully seemed as though it miraculously hadn't broken). The glass coffee table that sat in the middle of the living room had smashed to pieces, and on the couch that was still propped up normally sat Daryl with his head in his hands.

From what Beth could tell, there was blood dripping from his face and onto the wooden floor in front of him, but it wasn't gushing so as far as she could tell, it wasn't _that_ bad. Still, though, the sight of him sat so still in front of her concerned her - the man hadn't even looked up when he had heard her enter the living room - and Beth didn't waste any time in approaching him. She sat herself down on the couch next to him and reached out her hand so that she was touching his shoulder, applying the tiniest amount of pressure to it so that she was silently asking for him to lean back so that she could get a better look at his face.

At first, Daryl resisted her attempt, and Beth bit down firmly on her lower lip as she debated over what to do. Whilst she didn't want to push the older man too far, she also had a feeling that Daryl needed a bit more of a nudge when it came to this sort of business. So Beth tried again and was surprised to see that Daryl responded quite positively to her attempt, throwing himself backwards so that he was slouching against the back of the couch, his eyes downcast as Beth looked over his face.

The damage wasn't all that bad, if she was being honest with herself. It was shocking to her at first glance to see it; his bleeding lip, his swollen eye (which was quickly turning purple) and his bruised cheekbone. But that was mostly because of the fact that Beth wasn't used to seeing men looking like this around her - in fact, she had only ever seen Shawn with a black eye once, and that was as shocking as it got in the Greene household.

Now, though, Beth found herself reacting quickly, her hands tenderly trailing over Daryl's injured face before she pushed herself upright and made her way into his kitchen. Unfortunately, Beth had no idea whether or not he kept a first aid kit in the cabin, so she settled for grabbing a clean cloth and running it under the cold water of the tap. Once she had wrang it out, Beth made her way back into the living room and sat herself back down on the couch next to Daryl, noting that he hadn't moved at all since she had stood up and left the room.

Despite the fact that she had never tended to a recently battered man before, Beth thought that she was doing a pretty good job as she placed her fingers underneath his chin and tilted his head slightly so that she could get a better view of his busted lip. Without warning him, Beth slowly brought the cloth up to his mouth and pressed it gently against his upper lip before she gradually began to wipe away the dried blood there, her movements as tender and gentle as possible.

Once she was finished tending to him, Beth placed the bloody cloth in her lap, her light eyes dancing over Daryl's face as she took in everything about him. As one of her hands ran through his hair, smoothening it all out, Daryl finally looked up so that his eyes met with hers. Beth smiled softly at him, but his serious expression didn't change.

"You should go, Beth," Daryl mumbled out, his voice sounding rougher than usual.

The blonde's eyebrows pulled together as she continued to brush his hair from his face. "I'm not gonna leave you," she murmured to him, her eyes narrowing slightly as she spoke. Her voice was quiet and low, but she was certain that the weight of her words were clear to him in that moment.

For a second, Daryl didn't say anything - didn't move, didn't blink, didn't even look like he was breathing - but then he opened his mouth once again, letting out a small sigh before he spoke. "Look, Beth, I -"

"No," Beth cut in, her tone much more serious and her voice stronger, louder now. She had cut him off mid-sentence, and Daryl eyed her in confusion, surprise evident upon his features as he just stared at her blankly. "I'm _not_ leavin' you. Okay?"

Hershel had always told his daughter that she was stubborn as a mule, and Beth knew that her wise old daddy was definitely right. When she wanted something, she made sure that she got it; and whether Daryl Dixon liked it or not, she wasn't going to leave him on his own right now after he had just had a huge brawl with his older brother, his only sibling - his only _family._

As much as she wanted to know the reasoning behind the fight that the two men had just had and also what had actually gone on between them, Beth knew better than to ask and so she held her tongue. If Daryl wanted to tell her what had happened, then he would; but he would only do it on his own terms and in his own time, and Beth didn't want to push him or behave disrespectfully towards him. She may not have been with this man for a very long time, but she was quickly falling in love with him - whether he liked it or not - so as far as she was concerned, she would be sticking around.

When Daryl didn't say anything back to her last statement, Beth pushed herself from where she was sat and made her way over towards the couch that had been pushed over. For a good few seconds, the youngest Greene girl just stared at the piece of furniture in disbelief, but then she positioned herself so that she was bent at the waist; her long pale legs spread out, one hand resting on the armrest and the other hand on the back of the couch so that she was ready to pull it up.

Turning her head so that she was once again facing in Daryl's direction, Beth immediately smirked over at him and arched a brow as he stared straight back at her in confusion. After a few seconds of staring, Beth beckoned Daryl over to her with a nod of her head, her smirk only widening when he sat rooted to the spot.

"Come on," Beth said. "I might be stronger than I look, but I'm pretty sure I need a hand at pullin' this thing up."

Clearly not wanting to entertain her, Daryl shook his head from left to right. "Just leave it, I -"

"Daryl Dixon," Beth scolded playfully, her cheeks blushing pink slightly as his full name ran off her tongue without her even thinking twice about it. At the sound of her addressing him as such, Daryl seemed to straighten up on the couch, his deep blue eyes narrowing in her direction ever so slightly before they returned to their normal size just as quickly. His expression had changed slightly - he looked almost amused, and Beth's heart skipped a beat in her chest at the sight of the corners of his lips twitching upwards.

If she could just put him a good mood after everything that had happened today - if she could just make him forget whatever had happened with his brother - then maybe everything would just be alright.

"You better get over here an' help me sort this room out," Beth continued, her brows arching higher. "You're not gonna leave a _lady_ to do all the heavy liftin' around these parts, are you?"

The smirk that had been on her face had stretched out into a full on grin as she talked to him, emphasising each word that she spoke so that she was putting on the heaviest souther accent that she possibly could as she teased him. Thankfully, her method of messing around seemed to have worked, and Daryl hung his head so that he was looking at the floor as he let out a low chuckle in response to her words.

A second or two later, Daryl was pushing himself to his feet and heading over towards her, standing on the opposite side of the couch and quickly positioning himself so that he was mimicking her stance. "No, ma'am," he drawled at her, and Beth's face practically burned bright red as he teased her right back.

Choosing to ignore his smart mouth, Beth murmured out an _"on three"_ and counted, the two of them pushing the couch over so that it was standing correctly once again when they were finished. They still had a few more things to do - the TV needed to be put back up on the stand and the glass from the smashed coffee table needed sweeping up and being disposed of - but from the small smile that was hanging on Daryl's lips, Beth had a feeling that it would all work out just fine.

* * *

 **Not too cheesy or fluffy for your tastes, I hope.**

 **I hope that I made my writing clear enough so that you can all see that the reason that Beth didn't intervene when the brother's were fighting was because she knew that she was safe and protected because Daryl was there and that she knew he would never let anything happen to her. I didn't want it to seem too OOC for her because I can imagine her being really curious about what was going on, which she was, but she also didn't want to go meddling where she really shouldn't and she also was still tired and knew that Daryl would look after her.**

 **Thanks so much for reading!**


	17. Chapter 17

**If smut makes you uncomfortable, then I'd suggest you skip the first part of Beth's POV of this chapter.**

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It was in the middle of a cool night when Beth awoke from her light slumber with a jolt, jumping up in her bed immediately as she woke and resting her upper body on her elbows as she let out a sharp gasp that echoed in her ears. The young blonde panted loudly into the quiet space of her bedroom, and she tried her hardest to ignore the throbbing sensation that was almost becoming painful in between her legs as she focused on her breathing, inhaling and exhaling deeply and slowly as she attempted to bring herself back down to normal.

The space around her bedroom was incredibly dark, and it was the darkness that indicated to Beth that it must still be quite early on in the morning. Letting out a frustrated groan into the silence of her room as she realised that she would have to be up for work in just a few more hours, the waitress threw herself back onto her mountain of pillows, her upper body happily sinking into the inviting mattress once more.

Beth's heart was still pounding away against her chest as she continued to attempt to steady her breathing, squeezing her light blue eyes shut tightly for a good few seconds before she re-opened them. Even as her breathing and her heart rate returned back to a normal state, the throbbing between her legs never seemed to go away - in fact, it only seemed to get worse - and even as she tried to focus on anything and everything but the tingling sensation that she had there, Beth seemed incapable of properly focusing her attention on anything else except the desperate ache that she had.

This feeling was not uncommon for her, particularly now that things between her and Daryl were heating up. They hadn't moved forward from anything that they had done over the last two weeks, though - instead, they seemed to be frozen in place, and despite the fact that Beth had actually been actively trying to push him further and further along, the older man seemed to have built up some pretty good self-control over the years. Daryl certainly wasn't for having any of her attempts; even when she tried really, really hard, and despite being a little disheartened from it, Beth definitely wasn't ready to give up yet.

The youngest Greene girl had never gone through the 'horny teenager' phase that her sister and her friends seemed to have gone through (in fact, Beth was pretty confident that Maggie had gone through that phase more than enough for the pair of them). Instead, Beth had always been a lot more interested in her studies than she was in boys, and she had always made sure that she did as well as she could do in school so that she could get into a good college later on. Now though, it seemed like that phase that she had thought that she had missed out on had finally gone and caught up with her; and as much as Beth tried to push it away from her mind, all that she could ever think about nowadays was sex.

But not just any sort of sex. Sex with _Daryl Dixon._ And her own self-restraint was wearing thin.

The trouble was that Beth had never had any sort of experience with sex (or anything close to it, really) at all, and the young woman had always been far too shy to ever really try and bring herself to orgasm; never mind watch any sort of video or read any sort of story about it. So all in all, Beth genuinely was at a complete loss of where to even begin with the topic of sex, and she was quickly becoming confident that if you looked up 'innocent' and 'clueless' in the dictionary, then you would find her name right there.

It seemed that her brain could conjure up some half-decent fantasies despite her lack of experience, though; and Beth had now found herself in this sort of position quite a few times over the last couple of weeks: having a dirty dream about the things that she so desperately wanted to do with her boyfriend, waking up when it was just getting really, really good, and then struggling to drift back off to sleep once more.

And now Beth was finding herself in a pretty foul mood for a while afterwards, too; and tonight seemed to be the worst night that she had ever had with it all. Her dream was already beginning to drift away back into her unconscious mind, but it had been so vivid and so real at the time. Parts of it were still there - images of Daryl's mouth all over her body suddenly flashed through her mind once more, and he wasn't just sucking and licking at her nipple this time, either. And then it wasn't long before she was arching her body from the bed - _his_ bed - with her hands tightly wrapped up in his hair and her mouth handing open as he built her up right to the brink...

And then she had gone and woken up.

Without giving the action any conscious thought, Beth moved her hand so that it was settled right in between her legs and she then pressed down onto the material of her pantis, holding down directly over her center, and the blonde jolted slightly in surprise at just how _good_ it felt. There had been a couple of occasions where she had tried to do this, but none of those times had ever felt like this. This time, she felt so sensitive and so ready, her legs already shaking from anticipation as she tried - and failed - to calm herself down.

But Beth was already worked up and as her eyes inadvertedly drifted to a close once again, the young blonde slipped the material of her underwear to the side with her fingers and then moved her hand so that it was hovering directly over her core. Slowly, the waitress moved her finger so that she could touch her clit, and once again she jumped at the strong sensation of it. Her abdominal muscles contracted at the contact and her eyes flew open in shock at just how sensitive she really was, and her clit then twitched underneath her finger urgently, egging her on even further.

Without further ado, Beth began to trail slow and steady circles around her nub, biting down on her lower lip in an attempt to keep herself from squealing out in pure pleasure just how she wanted to. After only a few seconds of her movements, her toenails were curling and all of her legs were shaking, and the familiar sensation of something building up low and deep in her belly became known to her once again.

This now was usually the part where Beth stopped; the part where it felt like everything was just all too much, the part where it felt as if she couldn't continue, as if she had to stop. But this time, Beth pushed herself through it - unsure of where she got the willpower to do so - and she grit her teeth down so that she wouldn't make a peep as her mind began to wander once more.

Images of Daryl's face between her thighs strolled back into her mind once again, and Beth couldn't resist but to let out a small whimper as she imagined just what it would feel like to have the baker's tongue pressed against her clit instead of her own fingers.

Beth was wetter than she could ever really recall herself being before; and as much as the young woman wanted to stop when her stomach muscles began to spasm and contract and her whole body began to tense up, Beth just continued on. She was quickly losing herself in her fantasy now, not even certain on what was real and what was imaginary as she pictures herself using her hands to guide Daryl's face even closer to her most sensitive area; thinking about how good it would feel if he sucked on her and tugged gently on her clit with his teeth the way that he sometimes did with her nipple, fantasizing about how his fingers might feel if one or two of them just slit inside of her...

When she finally came - actually, _really_ had her first ever orgasm - Beth almost screamed out in pleasure, but before she could open her mouth she quickly turned her head to the side and bit down firmly on her pillow. Both of her legs trembled violently from the force of it as it shook through her body, and her abdominal muscles continued to contract and relax as she shuddered for a short while longer as she rode out the aftershocks of her pleasure, her mind in a daze and her whole body tingling.

It had all seemed like too much at first, but the thought of Daryl doing such things to her had Beth all worked up in a frenzy that she just couldn't quite describe. Once her whole body had ceased in its shaking, Beth melted into the mattress once again and let out a happy sigh into the dark room, a small smile resting on her face as she blinked up at the ceiling of her bedroom with hooded eyelids.

Things between herself and Daryl weren't moving at a fast pace at all, but Beth thought on to herself about how if just imagining her boyfriend doing those sorts of things to her could make her feel like _that,_ then she couldn't wait to finally have the real thing.

.

.

.

It was some time around five o'clock in the morning that Beth managed to pull herself out of her bed so that she could quickly get herself ready for work. Despite the early hour of the morning, someone - most likely her mother - was already awake and busy at work downstairs in the kitchen, and by the sounds of it, it would seem as though the older woman was preparing some vegetables that would probably be getting used for lunch and dinner on the farm that day.

Her mama always made sure that everything was ready and organsied for the Greene family and her daddy's farmhand, Otis, and his wife, Patricia. The couple lived in a small proerty at the edge of the farm land, and although Beth didn't see them quite as much as she would really like to anymore, she still loved the pair of them all the same.

The older couple were both practically members of the family, and they ate dinner most nights with the Greene's, too, but now that Beth had started picking up a lot of extra shifts as well as staying over at Daryl's, she didn't see either of them that much at all.

The young blonde had indeed guessed correctly about who would be downstairs and upon entering the kitchen she found that her mother was just finishing off rinsing the freshly peeled potatoes under the water at the sink. At the sound of Beth entering the room, Annette turned her head over her shoulder and offered her daughter a smile in greeting, neither of the two women looking tired at all despite the early hour.

"Good morning," Beth said to her mother in a sing-song voice, feeling in a much better mood this particular morning than she did most other days. As chirpy as she always tended to be during the later hours of the day, Beth was most definitely not a morning person, but today was... well, it was different.

Her mother nodded her head in Beth's direction before she returned her attention back towards the potatoes, shaking them dry before she placed them in a tupperware bowl and sealed it with a lid. "Good mornin', sweetheart," Annette said as she reached over the counter so that she could grab a couple of carrots, wiping her knife clean against the white of her apron before she started chopping away at them at a ridiculously fast pace. "What time are you gettin' off today?"

The question itself was innocent enough, but Beth's cheeks still blushed furiously at the unintentional sexual innuendo that her mother had just thrown in her direction. After the pleasurable release that she had found just a couple of hours before, Beth apparantly just couldn't help herself but to have sex on the brain. Still, it was something that Beth definitely did not want to share with her mother; and the young woman quickly cleared her throat and pulled out some ham from the fridge to put on a sandwich so that she could take her lunch to work with her.

"Two," Beth said as she tucked some hair behind her ear and started buttering away at the bread she had pulled out of the bread bin. "My classes start up again next week," she commented, hoping to change the subject quickly in an attempt to distract herself from her somewhat corrupted thoughts. "I've not got my timetable yet, but I heard that I shouldn't be in half as much this year as I was last year. Apparantly they give you more time off to do the assingments."

Annette nodded in understanding from where she stood at the counter chopping carrots, only a few steps away from her youngest daughter. "Sounds about right," the older woman commented as she moved some of the freshly chopped carrots to the side. "Have you told Carol that you're startin' back?" her mother then asked, turning her head so that she could raise a brow in her daughter's direction.

"Sure have," Beth said with a small smile as she wrapped up her lunch and then placed it inside of her bag alongside a bottle of water. "I think I'm goin' to tell her that I should step down from bein' a co-manager and just go back to being a waitress again. Let someone else who works there a lot more than I'll be doin' have the job, you know?" Beth explained with a shrug of her shoulders. "Besides, I'll be havin' a lot of work to do this year, an' as much as I love workin' at the diner, I don't want to get distracted with everythin' that goes on there and with runnin' the place. I need to keep my mind on my work."

Annette let out a gentle sigh at that. "You always have had a sensible head on your shoulders," her mama said as she gathered up the chopped carrots in her hands and began to rinse those under the tap water the same way in which she had previously done with the potatoes. "Not like your brother at all. Or your sister, for that matter."

Not really sure of what to say back to that as she didn't really want to bad mouth either of her elder siblings, Beth just let out a giggle in response. "Maybe," she said, a small glint in her eyes as her mother shot her youngest a knowing look. "Alright, I'm gonna get goin'," Beth said as she glanced up at the clock, noting that it was almost quarter to six and that her shift started in forty five minutes.

Annette stopped in her motions of chopping carrots long enough so that she could place a kiss to her daughter's forehead, offering her a soft smile before she returned to her work. "Have a good day, baby," she said. "Are you home tonight?"

To Beth's initial surprise, neither of her parents had been at all phased the first time that she had mentioned to them that she would be staying over at Daryl's place, and even now as she continued to do so a little more regularly, neither of them seemed to bat an eyelid about it. It seemed as though they had completely expected it to be coming and that they had even accepted it, too, although Beth had mostly been caught off guard at her father's reaction as opposed to her mother's.

Annette had always been more laid back whereas Hershel had always been more protective, and even though he had always been patient and kind towards all three of them, her daddy had always been fiercely over-protective of his daughters in particular. Now that she thought about it, her daddy had always kicked up a huge fuss whenever Maggie hadn't bothered to return home after school at the end of the day, and even when she was Beth's age she had still been getting nagged at by their parents.

In all honesty, Beth supposed that it probably had something more to do with the fact that Maggie had always lied about where it was that she would be staying that night whereas Beth had been open and honest with both of her parents about everything from the beginning. Plus there was also the fact that whilst Beth had introduced Daryl to both her mama and her daddy, her older sister had never once brought a boy home before to meet any of her family members, so both of her parents had never even been given the chance to scope out any of her 'boyfriends' before she went and spent the night at their place.

"I'm not sure," Beth said to her mother in response to her question as she walked backwards down the hallway towards the front door. "I'll let you know later on, okay?"

"Alright sweetheart," Annette called after her from the kitchen as Beth opened the front door.

With a smile on her face, Beth off on her walk to work, sticking in her headphones and blaring some upbeat music into them from her iPod as she walked along the dirt path that led to and from the Greene farm. After her release in the middle of the night, she was feeling much, much better - a lot lighter on her feet; almost as if she was walking on air, and a lot happier, too.

All in all, Beth was in a much better mood than usual this morning, and she couldn't help but keep the smile on her lips as she walked on and into the diner.

* * *

"So, how's things goin' with the girl?"

At the sound of Rosita's voice coming through the office - which had been so quiet and peaceful until now - Daryl frowned down at the recently completed paperwork that he was holding in his hands as he sat at his desk, and as he slide the sheets into a new envelope and sealed it shut, his brain processed the words that Rosita had spoken to him and his frown became even more prominant.

As he turned around to face the young woman who had made an effort to be extra annoying today, Daryl noticed Rosita's casual demeanor as she leaned one of her shoulders against the doorframe of the office, both of her arms crossed over her chest leisurely as she looked straight at him with a knowing smirk on her face.

Since Beth had made an appearance in the bakery a couple of months ago, Rosita had been on his case about her; and since word travelled fast around town, it didn't take the latina long to hear that the pair of them had been spotted on a date at the carnival. Rosita was far too comfortable around him now for Daryl's liking - there had been a time where she would cower away from him and just do whatever he told her to do as quickly and as well as she could, and Daryl didn't necessarily like it being that way with his employees, but it sure seemed a lot easier for him to deal with than _this._

Rosita continued to smirk over at him, so Daryl just scowled at her as hard as her could.

If he would have thrown her a look like that a year ago then he was certain that the younger woman would have practically burst into tears in front of him, but over time she had come to realise that he was all bark and no bite, and instead of her lower lip quivering, she broke out into a wide smile before she let out an extremely loud laugh at his expression. Rosita pushed herself off from the doorframe and walked further into the space of the small office, her arms still crossed over her chest as she did so.

"Lighten up, _boss,_ " she teased, still snickering to herself as she found a small spot on one of the cream coloured walls to lean her back against.

Daryl ignored her statement as he returned his attention back to the paperwork that he had been trying to file - trying to make sure there were no stray receipts lying around anywhere that he had missed - when Rosita asked him her original question again.

"Why you askin' me shit?" Daryl asked her, his voice low and rough as he settled on filing the envelope away into a folder where he kept all of his paperwork.

The young woman was nosey as hell, that was for sure; and she had developed a bad habit of always going out of her way to ask him personal questions over the last couple of months, seeming to be trying her best to find out more and more information about him. It wasn't as if Daryl ever purposely went out of his way to be a dick to his employee - after all, Rosita was a hard worker, and he definitely appreciated her help around the bakery - but sometimes she pushed him too far and he just _exploded._

Usually, though, that was what Rosita was hoping for - a reaction. And god, he gave her one sometimes; but Carol - who had been a good friend for what felt like forever - had been telling him for a while that he really needed to work on his temper and keep it in check, and that was exactly what he had been doing today. Personally, he thought that he had managed pretty well - he hadn't even blown up on her once, even when she started quizzing him about Merle, and all he had wanted to do then was scream at her to shut the hell up.

Yeah - Daryl thought that he had been doing pretty damn well for himself. Not just today, but most days recently.

"I's just wonderin'," Rosita said nonchalantly with a shrug of her shoulders. As she spoke, she peeked over Daryl's shoulder in a completely un-discreet manner, attempting to read the notes that he had been scribbling down in the diary for Abraham who was opening up the shop the next day.

Sensing that she was there, Daryl narrowed his eyes slightly and turned over his shoulder, causing the latina to jump slightly at his sudden movements. The baker almost smirked at her surprised expression, but when her curious brown eyes didn't bother to turn away from the diary that she had been looking at, Daryl let out a loud and irritated huff as he moved it further away from her gaze.

There was a part of him that was debating tipping the other man off about Rosita's annoying mood, but he had a feeling that Abraham would know all about that in much more detail than Daryl did. Before he could think anything more of it, Rosita cleared her throat. When he turned around to face her he noted that her eyebrows were arched incredibly high as she patiently waited for him to respond to her previous statement.

"Well," Daryl said, not sure of what to say. "Jus'... stop." It was a pretty pathetic response, even for him, and Rosita laughed loudly once again as Daryl snapped the diary to a shut in an attempt to muffle out the noise. "Wha'?" he barked at her, growing more and more irriated by the second; and now he genuinely was confused as to what the damned girl was laughing about this time.

Rosita was still laughing quietly to herself when he turned around to face her, but the frown on Daryl's face didn't disappear, even as she wiped underneath her eyes and shook her head from side to side. "Nothin'," she murmured, although Daryl didn't believe her at all.

Still though, as much as there was a part of him that really did want to find out what was so funny at his expense, the baker kept his mouth shut tight about it and just pretended to her that he really didn't give a shit.

It was as he grabbed his wallet from the desk and shoved it into one of the back pockets of his dark jeans that Rosita spoke up from where she stood behind him, apparantly having pushed herself upright from where she had been leaning against the wall. "I guess it's just kinda funny seein' you with a girlfriend, is all."

"'M I that bad?" Daryl asked her, although his voice was laced with sarcasm that the latina easily detected.

Apparantly his comment had surprised her a little bit though because for half of a second, Rosita looked just a little bit unsure of what she was supposed to say back her boss in response. But as quickly as the shocked expression had come, it also left, and Rosita recovered quickly as she shook her head from side to side. "

Apparantly that had surprised her a little bit because for half a second, Rosita looked a little bit unsure of what to say to her boss, but then she shook her head from side to side and quickly recovered her expression. "No, it's not _that,_ " Rosita had said to him as she stepped her way out of the office, Daryl following shortly after her. "Although I reckon you look a lot better when you lose the hat."

Daryl let out a heavy sigh at that as he turned around and locked the office door behind them, not bothering to entertain her with a response (although there was a part of him that wanted to snappily remind the girl about hygene and all that shit that made him have to wear the stupid white hat at work).

"What's that face for?" Rosita asked as Daryl turned around, but the baker really wasn't sure what it was that she was talking about. He was just about to open his mouth and speak when she beat him to it. " _Oh,_ " she breathed out; her tone all high-pitched and exaggerated and her eyes wide. "Does _Beth_ like you hat?"

That had his ears burning bright red, and he was sure as hell glad for the hat now so that Rosita couldn't physically see the way in which she was embarassing him. Instead of responding to her, Daryl just scowled again before he stormed past her towards the main floor of the bakery, the swinging door that led in and out of the back area flying shut quickly behind him.

For just a couple of seconds, Daryl was free from Rosita's questions, but then she was right behind him and following him through to the main floor, a grin on her face as if she knew just how irritating she was being right now. "I'm jus' playin' with you," she told him, clearly not feeling at all remorseful for embarrassing him so badly. "Besides, you know what I mean. It's just funny actually... you know. _Seein'_ you be with someone. Like, the way that you're bein'."

"An' how am I bein'?" Daryl asked her then, genuinely unsure about why he had even bothered to entertain her with an answer - or technically, a question.

Rosita just shrugged her shoulders at him again as Daryl held the door to the bakery open for her, allowing her to leave first before he followed behind her. He double checked that the alarm was set and that all of the lights were turned off before he locked the door to the bakery, Rosita rattling on from where she stood right outside the front door.

"I dunno how to explain it," she said, speaking more to herself than to him. "I guess... Shy. Quiet. Real _reserved._ "

"Ain't that just me?" Daryl said then with a sigh as he double checked that the front door was locked before he turned around, his eyes squinted due to the direct sunlight that was shining straight at him. It was just a little after five o'clock, but it was still pretty warm outside, although the temperature was rapidly cooling now that winter was approaching.

"I guess," Rosita said with a kinder smile this time. "But still, Daryl, I _know_ Beth."

That comment had the baker raising his eyebrows as he slipped the keys to the bakery in his back pocket alongside his wallet. "You do?" he asked, knowing full well what her answer would be.

"Kinda," Rosita said after a brief pause, her tone fully indicating that she really didn't know Beth at all. "Well, I mean, I know _of_ her which is basically the same thing anyway. So you can talk to me about your relationship. It's not a big deal."

Daryl scoffed to himself at Rosita's words and just nodded his head up and down at his employee. "Wha'ever you say, Espinosa," he said, almost laughing at the way in which her face scrunched up at the sound of him using her second name. "An' when I need someone to braid my hair an' paint my nails, you'll be the first person I come to as well, alrigh'?"

His comment made Rosita smirk as she cocked her head to one side and stuck her middle finger up at him sarcastically, but apparantly it was enough to shut her up, too, which Daryl was relieved about.

He quickly made work of saying his goodbyes to the younger woman before he stepped out across the road towards where his truck was parked up outside a new shop that sold all sorts of milkshakes and fruit smoothies and frozen yogurt. He hadn't been to it before, but Rosita had visited it a couple of times on her dinner breaks and had suggested it to him, recommending that he should take Beth there some time.

Even though Daryl had never been inclined to try any sort of frozen fucking yogurt, he guessed that he probably would find himself stuck in there with Beth sometime soon.

Not that he would mind, of course. As long as she was there, he was happy going wherever.

.

.

.

After not being able to meet with his girlfriend over the last couple of days due to their conflicting schedules - apparantly, Beth was pretty busy getting everything sorted out for her classes and picking up a hell of a lot of overtime at work - but Daryl had organised to see her tonight, and even though she hadn't mentioned it to him, he was pretty certain that she would be spending the night at his place.

He had already asked Rosita to let Abraham know that he might not be joining him at work tomorrow, and the latina had smiled knowingly at him before she confirmed that she would. As far as Daryl was concerned, Rosita could smile at him all she wanted - he sure wasn't going to start talking to her about Beth for no reason.

It wasn't as if Daryl was at all ashamed or embarrassed of their relationship. In fact, it was the complete opposite, and the baker still couldn't believe that of all of the girls in this little town, it was _Beth Greene_ who was dating him, actually really _dating_ him like out of one of those stupid chick movies. He knew all too well that you didn't need to be happy with someone to date them; hell, he was pretty sure that his ma had never once been happy with his dad, but she had stuck by him all the same. Still, Daryl had a feeling that he made Beth happy, and he at least always went out of his way to try and make sure that she was.

As he drove over to the Greene farmhouse, Daryl couldn't help but be reminded of some of the cruel things that his brother had said about Beth during their huge fight a couple of weeks ago. _"Some dumb college hooch,"_ Merle had said as he spat on the floor of the cabin. _"Some bitch who's jus' gonna fuck ya for a lil while an' then leave ya for the next best thing."_

Daryl knew that it wasn't true - knew that his brother was just jealous about his relationship with Beth; knew that his brother was jealous about a lot of other things in his life, too. _"She gonna help you bake yer cakes, Darylina?"_ Merle had drawled, the smirk on his face devilish as he wound his younger brother up more and more and more. _"She can come an' help me too, if she wants. You should tell her that if she wanted to go slummin' then she picked the wrong brother, 'cause I -"_

That's where it had ended before Daryl had punched him in the face, and the whole thing had ended up being a huge and unexpected brawl. The last thing that Daryl wanted to do at the moment was fight with his older brother. Especially not when everything in his life was finally going right for once, not when he had only just got him back from where he had been locked up in prison.

But apparantly, Merle had other ideas, and he sure as hell wasn't acting like he needed Daryl now that he was bouncing around town with Martinez by his side. It was only a matter of time before one (or both) of them got themselves into serious trouble again, and Daryl knew that if he continued to let Merle take advantage of him the way that his older brother wanted to, then he would be the one who would be left to deal with all the shit and the aftermath once the pair of them were locked up behind bars.

It wasn't the life that Daryl wanted for himself - never had been, and most certainly wasn't anymore. Not now that he had Beth in his life.

The girl was clever as it was, but studying social work at college... Daryl couldn't help but wonder what the hell she must think of him, think of his brother and the childhood that they had. Beth probably had a good couple of theories tucked up her sleeve all about why they were the way that they were, but he wasn't sure whether or not the youngest Greene girl would be able to explain why they had taken such different paths in life.

Why one of them had ended up running a bakery at thirty four years old whilst the other had ended up jumping in and out of prison since he was in his teens.

Not wanting to think of it anymore, Daryl was relieved to see that Beth was waiting for him on the porch of the farmhouse. The girl was wearing one of her many sundresses - a yellow one today - and a white cardigan along with her cowboy boots, and her hair was all wrapped up off her face in a messy pony tail. No sooner had he parked up was she hopping inside of the truck, and before Daryl could even blink the blonde was throwing her arms around him and pressing a chaste kiss to his cheek in greeting.

"Hey," Daryl said as his lips twitched upwards, and Beth beamed up at him, her arms still wrapped tightly around his neck.

"Hey," she repeated, a giggle escaping her lips as she did so. "I really missed you."

Daryl had really missed her, too, even though it had only been a couple of days. As much as he wanted to tell her that he felt like that too, he just couldn't get the words out - the lump in his throat that came whenever she said things like this re-appearing once more - and Daryl cleared his throat a little awkwardly as Beth shuffled away from him and clipped on her seatbelt.

The expression on her face wasn't one of hurt or rejection like he so often expected; instead, it looked as though she really understood how much he was struggling with all of this, like she actually appreciated the fact that he was at least trying. And he most definitely preferred that look to one of pity and sympathy or one of hurt and confusion.

Instead of telling her how much he had missed her, Daryl just mumbled out a "wanna go for frozen yogurt?" and almost actually laughed at the way in which her eyes lit up.

"Sure!" she said, her tone higher than usual as she spoke in excitement. "Where?"

Daryl shrugged his shoulders at her casually. "Some place opposite the bakery. Rosita said it's half decent, so..."

Beth nodded her head up and down quickly, clearly happy with the idea as Daryl drove away from the farm. "That sounds perfect," she said with a smile, and for once, Daryl found that he was actually pretty glad that he had listened to Rosita's advice when it came to Beth.


	18. Chapter 18

"Ain't never had frozen yogurt before," Daryl commented as he and Beth made their way outside of the milkshake store, the bell above the door chiming as they stepped over the threshold, the sound temporarily reminding Beth of Carol's diner. The young blonde was thankful that she had managed to snag another day off tomorrow, which was the main reason that she had arranged to see Daryl tonight as opposed to any other evening that had passed them these last few days - after all, the perks of him being the owner of the bakery meant that he could take a day off if he wanted to.

Although they never spoke about it, Beth remembered the way in which Daryl used to come to the diner for breakfast almost every single day of the week without fail, and she was more than sure that the older man never bothered to take a day off before she found her way into his life. Sometimes, Beth didn't know whether she should feel guilty for distracting him from his work, but she knew in her heart that Daryl wouldn't leave the bakery unless he was sure that it was in good hands.

Apparantly, Rosita and Abraham were good, hard workers, and from the way that he spoke about the pair of them, Beth had a feeling that he trusted them a lot more than he trusted anybody else to run the place.

Daryl had parked up practically directly outside of the store, and the two of them wasted no time in hopping back into the baby blue truck (the baker opening the passenger door for her before he strolled around to his own side in a manner that had Beth's cheeks burning red). Beth let out a long, happy sigh as she pulled her seatbelt over her chest and waist as Daryl shut the drivers side door behind him and stuck the keys in the ignition of the car.

The pair of them were both sufficiently stuffed - and feeling a lot cooler - now that they had indulged in the modern treat, and Beth couldn't help but arch one of her eyebrows in Daryl's direction once her seatbelt was clicked into the holder, her expression one of something similar to disbelief.

"You're lyin'," she said to him in response to his earlier comment, her voice small and slow, a small and playful grin tugging on her lips.

The way that Beth was looking straight at Daryl seemed to have the baker feeling all different types of nervous as he struggled twice to turn the key and start up the engine, but on the third time - when he finally broke eye contact with her and looked down at the wheel - he managed to do it just fine. The older man just shook his head at her before he looked up and turned his attention towards the road. "Nah," Daryl grunted in response as he revved the engine of the truck.

As he pulled out onto the road and began to drive in the direction of his cabin, Beth continued to look right at him, the smile on her face naturally growing wider and wider without her even really realising. From the corner of his eye, Daryl shot the younger woman a couple of nervous, uncertain glances, and the way that he was attempting to not-so-obviously eye her had Beth dying to burst out in a fit of giggles.

It looked as though Daryl was trying to debate over what to say to her as he drove down the highway, but before the baker could even open his mouth to say anything at all, Beth beat him to it - a habit that she had most definitely mastered recently, even though she hadn't meant to do so at all.

"You liked it though," Beth asked, her tone playful and that silly grin still plastered across her pretty face. "Right?"

Shrugging his broad shoulders, Daryl mumbled something under his breath that sounded like he was saying that the frozen yogurt was _"alright."_

Beth had a feeling that the older man actually thought a lot more of the treat - after all, he had seemed to actually really enjoy it when they were eating it inside of the story - but she knew that he wasn't really supposed to go and spill all of that sort of girly stuff to her.

Even though she wouldn't bat an eyelid if he did admit to liking it, Beth knew better than to really push it with him - after meeting his older brother and overhearing some of their conversations combined with the jumpy manner in which Daryl could behave around her from time to time, the young blonde had put two and two together and come to the conclusion that the Dixon brothers had most definitely not had the best upbringing.

It might not have seemed all that important to anybody else, but Beth knew better than to continue pushing Daryl with this as she didn't want to go and back him into a corner. After all, with an older brother like Merle, Beth had a feeling that it had never been acceptable for Daryl to enjoy anything that could be perceived as girly.

So instead of saying anything else to him, Beth just widened her smile before she turned up the volume on the radio and began to sing along with the song that was playing.

.

.

.

The kisses that the two of them shared were seeming to be growing much more heated by the day, and Beth's head was spinning as she swirled her tongue in Daryl's mouth, pushing it roughly against his own whilst the baker pulled her impossibly closer towards him. The blonde had never been kissed like _this_ before; not by Zach or Jimmy, and she had never felt anything so close to desire before in her life.

That familiar feeling was building up low in her belly once again but Beth had a feeling that tonight, like most nights with Daryl, she wouldn't be able to find her release - after all, the older man seemed to have some sort of issue with doing anything at all sexual with her.

If she were to be honest with herself, Beth knew in her heart that Daryl Dixon was a good man and that she should be thankful about the fact that he was more hesitant with her as opposed to him trying to push her into something that she simply wasn't ready for, which was something that Beth had most definitely experienced in the past. The issue was that things with Daryl were _different -_ she actually _wanted_ to be with him in a way that she had never been with anybody else.

Beth wasn't even hesitant about it, didn't even need to think about it much at all. The blonde knew full well that this thing that the two of them shared - this relationship that they had - was something _more_ than the older man just being a good kisser (even though he was - _God,_ he was). And it wasn't just all down to the sexual attraction that was charging between the two of them, either.

Mostly, it was all to do with the fact that Beth Greene was slowly but surely falling for the town's baker.

Despite his initially rough and gruff exterior, Daryl was more than sweet towards her and Beth knew in her heart that she would happily spend every single day of the rest of her life with him for company. At almost twenty one years old, the student knew well enough that those sorts of thoughts could only lead to a huge commitment from her side, and those sorts of thoughts were sending down a very unknown, incredibly unfamiliar path.

But Beth Greene was anything close to stupid and she most certainly wasn't about to go and confess almost everything that she was suddenly realising she felt for the baker to him. The last thing that she ever wanted to do was scare him off, especially when she had only just managed to get him for herself, and for now, the things that she felt for this man who was kissing her like his life depended on it were going to stay in both her head and her heart and there alone.

When one of Daryl's big hands trailed down her front and worked its way underneath her dress, everything that Beth had previously been thinking about him flew out of her mind and she broke their passionate kiss for a few seconds whilst she gasped in a mixture of surprise and pleasure. Two pairs of blue eyes met with each other's when her own flew wide open, and as his fingernails began to scratch against the inside of her thigh, the blonde couldn't help but to shudder and let out a little moan.

The sound that escaped her lips without her really recognising it had the baker smirking, looking very much pleased with himself before he inched closer to Beth's face, their lips meeting once again in a frenzied kiss. Both of Beth's slender hands came up to cup his face whilst Daryl's hand leisurely trailed closer and closer towards her center, and when he pressed his palm flat against her and effectively cupped her core through her white lace panties, Beth let out a mewl into his mouth.

Daryl kept his hand completely still as he pressed against her for a little while, no doubt testing the waters to see how she felt about this new sensation and also to allow her to become more used to it. They had briefly talked about the topic of sex a few times over, and Beth had confided in her boyfriend about how she had never done anything past kissing with anybody before. The look on Daryl's face when she had first told him the news had Beth worrying that he wasn't happy to learn about how inexperienced she was because it meant that she was more than likely not going to be good at near enough anything, but when she finally voiced her concerns to him about it, Daryl soothed her mind and insisted that he just didn't want to push her into anything.

This felt good, though - more than good, and Beth moaned louder when Daryl began to rub his hand against her. The blonde's thighs were trembling as he worked her over her underwear, but Beth needed _more,_ and so she murmured the word over and over again against his swollen lips.

The young woman wasn't all that naive, though, and even though she wasn't exactly sure how it all worked, she knew what it was that she wanted him to do to her. Breaking their kiss, Daryl pulled his head back away from hers so that he could look her in the eyes as he slowly used his fingers to move her panties to one side, and a little whimper escaped from Beth's lips when he didn't immediately touch her where she knew she wanted him most.

No words were spoken between the two of them, but the look in Daryl's eyes had Beth nodding her head at him once, answering his unspoken question in the simplest way that she possibly could. Had she not been so breathless and so excited and so unbearably filled with desire, then the student might have informed her boyfriend that she indeed wanted his hands on her more than she wanted anything else in the world, but for now, a nod of her head would have to suffice.

Daryl seemed to understand that this was more than okay with her, though, but he didn't move in to kiss her when his hand came over to cup her bare center. Instead, his deep blue eyes danced over her face, watching intently when she gasped once more and squeezed her eyes shut from the overwhelming feeling of all of these foreign sensations. And when one of his fingers moved inside of her, Beth's eyes shot open once again, a long, low moan filling the silent air between them.

There had been several occasions where Beth had touched herself in an attempt to find some sort of release, but it had never, ever felt like _this._ The way that Dary was moving his finger in and out of her at a somewhat leisurely pace had Beth practically squirming against him, and when he cursed in her ear and mumbled about how wet she was, the young woman was actually surprised that she didn't cum on the spot.

Whilst one of his fingers worked itself inside of her, another moved to her throbbing clit, and Daryl's free hand immediately went to hold her lower back in an attempt to steady her when she practically screamed at the feeling. It was so _intense,_ like nothing that she had ever felt before, and if she could muster up any coherent thought at all then the blonde would most definitely wonder why on earth it never felt this good when she touched herself.

All in all, it didn't take that long for her to find her release - at least not as long as it usually took her whenever she was alone, anyway. Daryl continued to sit back and watched her as he worked her with his fingers, tracing circles at a quicker pace than before against her clit and watching as she thrashed against his hand. And when Beth finally found that release; when that burning feeling that built up low in her stomach came to an explosion, the baker pulled her against him so that her had was resting comfortably in the crook of his neck.

Her body continued to shudder for a couple of minutes after she had came, and Beth's breathing finally settled itself down whilst Daryl played with her hair. Despite the fact that neither of them had eaten anything for dinner, sleep came over to claim them both as they sat on the couch, Beth's head still resting against Daryl's shoulder and his chin leaning on top of her head.

* * *

It was almost eleven when Daryl woke up, finding that Beth was still very much asleep against his chest - and also very much dribbling all over him. It wasn't as though he cared all that much (in fact, it was almost sort of adorable), but Daryl figured that her position was probably not really all that comfortable and her neck was probably stiff as anything from the way that she was resting against him.

So he made the decision to wake her up, gently shaking her shoulder and murmuring her name. A sleepy groan escaped her lips as her eyes flickered open, shaking her head back and forth before she pushed herself up with a yawn. Not sure of what to do, Daryl just sat back and watched as she stretched herself in her sleepy state, her eyes still closed as she unknowingly ground herself against where he was ready for her.

Shifting backwards on the couch so that Beth slid down his legs a little bit, Daryl cleared his throat. The noise seemed to catch her attention and brought Beth quickly to reality, her light blue eyes shooting open as she gazed down at him, seeming to be not all that disorientated from sleep any more.

"Oh," she gasped when she realised that his tee shirt was wet. One of her hands came up to touch her mouth, and the look on her face was a mixture of embarrassment and shock as she glanced down at her damp fingers. "Oh my goodness. Daryl, I'm so sorry, I've dribbled all over you."

The baker couldn't help but to chuckle at her confession, and he glanced down to where she was also looking at his tee shirt. "Yeah..." he said, trailing off before tilting his head so that he was looking back up at her face, noting how her cheeks were quickly turning pink. "S'alright. Just a shirt, not like it matters none."

At his words, Beth nodded her head. "I know," she said as she moved herself off from him and then sat herself down beside him on the couch. "It's pretty disgusting though... right?"

The tone of her voice was hesitant and almost nervous despite the fact that she giggled as she spoke, and Daryl frowned at it immediately. He knew that they were still learning a lot about one another and that they had a long way to go before they could say that they knew each other really all that well, but Daryl thought that Beth knew him better than this. It wasn't like a bit of dribble was going to put him off her, after all.

So he shook his head dismissively as he pushed himself to stand upright. "Nah," he told her, offering her one of his hands so that he could help pull her up to her feet, too. Beth happily accepted his invitation, smiling almost shyly up at him as she interlaced their fingers and then used his weight to pull herself up so that she was standing beside him. "Had a lot worse on me before. Dribble don't matter."

The sound of her giggling - a lot lighter this time, thankfully - rang through his ears and had his lips twitching up in an almost-smile as he started to lead the way towards the kitchen, Beth following directly behind him. "Do I wanna know?" she asked, and Daryl actually allowed himself to chuckle at that as he opened the fridge, turning his head over his shoulder so that he could see her sitting herself down at the small table that was in the corner of the room.

"Probably not," he said, and Beth beamed over at him at that. Daryl allowed himself the pleasure of looking at her smiling face for a couple more seconds before he returned his attention back towards the fridge, his eyes trailing over the shelves that were half-filled with food. At least he had some stuff in so that he could muster up something for her to eat. "You hungry?" he asked as he rummaged around, tilting his head slightly so that he could look across at where she was sat.

Beth opened her mouth as if to speak but her stomach rumbled before she could get a word in, and Daryl smirked when he saw the look of surprise and genuine horror that flashed across her features at the sound. When her eyes met with his again, Beth let out a little laugh and nodded her head. "Guess I already answered your question," she said to him, and Daryl chuckled once again before he grabbed a few bits out of the fridge and got to making the two of them a light snack.

.

.

.

It was late when Daryl dropped Beth off at the farmhouse the next day - probably sometime around nine - and although he had wanted nothing more than to stay in her company, he knew that he had to get her back home before either of her parents started to think that he was being a bad influence on their youngest daughter. Despite the fact that she would be turning twenty one in just over a week, Daryl knew just from the things that she had said - the stories she had told, mostly - and the things that he had seen when he had visited the farmhouse that Beth was the baby of the family.

The last thing that he wanted to do was piss off Hershel Greene by dropping her off at a time that was really far too late for her to just be getting home.

"When am I gonna see you again, Mister Dixon?" Beth asked with a smile as she rested both of her elbows against the driver side window of the truck. It was obvious that she was far to small to be able to reach the window without standing as high as she possibly could do on her tiptoes, and the sight of her struggling to stay up resting on just her toes had Daryl wanting to laugh out loud.

He didn't do that though, and from where he sat at the drivers seat inside of the vehicle, the baker just shrugged his shoulders as she squinted out at her. "Dunno," he grunted out, his deep blue eyes flickering towards his knees for a brief moment and then back up to look at her pretty face once again. "I wanna see you before your birthday, though," he said.

His words seemed to make her happy because a brilliant smile lit up Beth's face once he had spoken. "Of course," she said, her tone upbeat and happy. "I'm not workin' so much now that I'm set to start my classes again. An' you know that you can come round an' see me whenever you want. My parents don't mind at all."

It wasn't as though Daryl meant to be short with her, but at the sound of mentioning her mama and daddy, Daryl couldn't help but snort in something that was close to disbelief. "Right," he said with a nod of his head, his tone unintentionally sarcastic.

The smile that had lit up on Beth's face then slowly turned down into a frown once the word escaped his lips. At the sight of his girl looking so sad because of something that he had said when just a few seconds before she had been all happy smiles and giggles, Daryl was filled with a sense of guilt and shame. It wasn't as though he purposely went out of his way to fuck things up, it was just that it seemed to be what happened - and this moment now was a perfect example of that.

Instead of bursting into tears (which wasn't necessarily what Daryl expected Beth to do, but he had never been too good at dealing with upset women before, so he could never really tell where it was going to go), Beth jutted out her chin defiantly and eyed her boyfriend defiantly. "I mean it," the blonde said to him, her voice strong and unwavering as she spoke. "My mama and daddy..." she trailed off, her hard features softening to their natural state as her eyes widened ever so slightly. "They really like you, Daryl."

This was something that he had never been all that good at - after all, it wasn't as though he had much experience with this scenario, anyway. Women for him in the past tended to be quick flings, usually just a one-time thing, but if it wasn't just one time, then it ended up being no more than four or five times. It didn't usually take all that long for Daryl to get bored, and he had never bothered to actually entertain anyone for anything - it had all been about sex, pure and simple, and that was that. Once it was over, the girl was gone and he was back to being by himself.

That, or with his brother.

Things were so different now though. Beth was more than anything that he had ever experienced before and despite the fact that he really didn't want to fuck up what he had with her, he also knew that it was somewhat inevitable considering the fact that he couldn't keep his damned mouth in check. Whenever he felt vulnerable or exposed, he naturally lashed out, and he knew it was only a matter of time before Beth saw that side of him.

The baker doubted that she would want to stick around when she finally saw that side of him, too.

Instead of saying anything more about her parents, Daryl just chose to nod his head at Beth. "I'll call you," he told her, and Beth offered him a soft smile before she leaned up impossibly further on her toes and pressed her lips to his in a soft kiss.

"You better," she said, smiling softly at him before she pushed herself away from the truck and made her way up towards the door of the farmhouse.

Daryl didn't bother to start up the trucks engine until he watched that she got inside and shut the door safely behind her, and once she had disappeared into the white house, Daryl put the truck into reverse and quickly turned it around, wasting no time in getting himself back home to the cabin.

The thing that was playing on his mind now more than anything was the fact that it was Beth's twenty first birthday in just over a week and he was still set to find her a present that was really perfect from him. It didn't matter that the two of them hadn't been together for all that long; at the end of the day, Beth was someone special, and she deserved something special, too.

He just had to try and find out what that something special was.


	19. Chapter 19

**In this chapter, Daryl's POV is a little bit on the short side, but I'll make up for it in the next chapter when he gives Beth her birthday gift, I promise.**

* * *

It was quite early in the morning when Beth was suddenly woken up from what she had considered to be a somewhat peaceful slumber that had been filled with dreams that she would never really recall to the sound of a chorus of familiar voices calling out "happy birthday" at the top of their lungs.

From the looks of the light that was creeping into the bedroom through her thick curtains, Beth could tell without even really thinking much about it that it was definitely still quite early - nowhere near as early as she was used to waking up at whenever she had work, of course, but it definitely had to be sometime around seven or eight o'clock.

Not at all used to being awoken in such a loud and sudden manner - after all, the young blonde usually found that she woke up shortly before her alarm was due to ring out into the space of her bedroom, and she had found that her body clock naturally seemed to be set to wake up ready for working the early shift at the diner - Beth jumped up in her bed immediately. Her big light blue eyes were wider than ever and her expression was one of genuine surprise as she took in the sight in front of her, and for a brief second or two, Beth Greene wasn't sure whether she was actually awake or still dreaming.

Stood at the foot of her double bed was all of her family; the lot of them beaming so brightly in her direction that the pretty waitress was actually a little bit surprised that she wasn't blinded just by the sight of it. And it wasn't just her mama and daddy who were smiling at her, either - no, beside the two of them stood her older siblings, Maggie and Shawn, one on either side of her parents. Whilst it wasn't necessarily something that Beth found herself dreaming of, it most certainly was not something that she had been expecting to see when she woke up that morning - even if it was her birthday.

Beth hadn't been expecting just how _white_ Maggie's teeth would be now, either.

The young woman had never really been good in awkward situations - not that this one was necessarily awkward, but she was most definitely caught off guard and slightly in shock, and Beth thought that all of those situations sort of all shared a similar kind of theme - and she had never really known how to deal with people's attention being focused on her. It hadn't even been sixty seconds since she had opened her eyes, but already Beth could feel her cheeks turning a dark shade of pink.

Not knowing what to do, Beth cleared her throat and offered her family a small - but nonetheless genuine - smile in return.

"Good morning," Beth said as she tucked a strand of her wavy hair behind her ear nervously.

It was her older brother who spoke up first almost immediately after that, his loud laughter booming into the space of her bedroom in response to her greeting. Shawn had always been a bit of a wind up, plain and simple - protective of her, sure, but a big tease nonetheless, and Shawn Greene had never held back - in fact, Beth thought that it was much more accurate to describe him as always going out of his way to fill the annoying older brother stereotype.

Shaking his head from side to side, her older brother bent his upper body slightly over her double bed and rested his palms flat against the leather headboard at the foot of it. There was a playful smirk on his face as he spoke. "That's all you gotta say?" Shawn asked her, the smirk growing into a grin as his eyebrows arched at her. "Geez, Bethy. Not seen your big brother in nearly a year an' all you gotta say is _good morning_?"

Before Beth could even open her mouth to say something quick and smart back, her mama was slapping her eldest child on the shoulder and giving him a stern look. The way that she had touched her son was anything but aggressive - if anything, it was soft, a barely there touch - but the way that Shawn was reacting to the contact from his mother, one would have thought that the older woman had just punched him in the face as hard as she possibly could manage.

At the sight of Shawn grabbing his shoulder and over-exaggeratively crying out _"ouch",_ the corners of Annette's lips twitched upwards, but the older woman continued to keep her facial expression as warning as possible. "Leave your sister alone," Annette said, stressing the last word. "It's her birthday."

Shawn looked as though he was just about to say something from where he had straightened himself up now, but Maggie cleared her throat from where she stood beside Hershel and caught everyone's attention.

The older Greene girl's hazel eyes flickered from Beth's to Annette's several times before she spoke, her voice soft yet confident. "Why don't we go an' get somethin' to eat," Maggie said, offering Beth a small smile. "You must be hungry. Then we can open all your presents."

With a kick of her long, pale legs, Beth pushed the duvet covers from where they had been covering her body and nudged her body further down the mattress, nodding her head in agreement with Maggie's suggestion.

It may have been a while since the two sisters had seen each other and it also might not have been on the best terms that Maggie had left for the city, but right now, Beth was more than grateful that someone in the room seemed as though they could practically read her mind.

.

.

.

After breakfast (which consisted of a big variety of homemade food that her mama had been preparing all morning), Beth was almost dragged into the living room of the house by Annette who was talking incredibly quickly about her youngest daughter opening her gifts. Unwrapping presents had never really been something that Beth particularly enjoyed doing, and the young blonde was most definitely more of a giver, preferring to pick out gifts for her family and friends as opposed to being the person to receive them.

Still, this was her birthday; and not just any birthday, either. It was her twenty first birthday, and Beth had a feeling that her family wouldn't hold back when it came to showering her with presents. Not just because it was Beth whose birthday it was, but because this is what they all did, especially for each other.

Both Shawn and Maggie were working full-time, meaning that they could probably afford some more expensive presents for their younger sibling than she would be able to afford to give them. For the most part, her older sister bought her useful bits and bobs - a couple of picture frames, some new notebooks and journals that were decorated with all sort of cute prints and designs for when her classes started again. But Maggie had bought Beth some new make-up, too, and even though the waitress was nowhere near as much of an expert with that sort of stuff as her older sister was, Beth knew just by looking at the containers that all of the items were pricey.

The gifts from Maggie were neatly placed to the side whilst Beth pulled the small gift bag that held Shawn's present to her inside, and Beth's light blue eyes may as well have bulged right out of her head when she opened the untidily wrapped present to find that her older brother had brought her a brand new iPod.

Plump lips hanging open wide, Beth practically gawped over in Shawn's direction from where she sat on the couch and where he was stood in the doorway, leaning casually against the doorframe with his arms crossed over his chest and an almost cocky smile on his face. He knew his little sister well and he definitely knew that he had made the right choice for her gift, it would seem.

Stammering over her words, Beth laughed a little nervously in disbelief. "Shawn," she said. "You didn't - you shouldn't have."

With a chuckle, her older brother straightened himself up so that he was standing in the middle of the doorway now, both of his arms dangling by his sides. "Nah, I did," he said. "I had a feelin' that the one you're usin' at the moment probably has a couple o' months left of life, tops."

Not sure of what to say to that, Beth offered her older sibling a dazzling smile before she neatly placed the box that held the iPod in next to all of the presents that Maggie had given her. Pushing herself up to her feet, Beth wrapped her arms around her sister and gave her a tight squeeze before she did the same to her brother, thanking them both for buying her anything at all.

At the feel of a large, warm hand coming to rest on her shoulder, Beth turned her head to the side, smiling warmly at the sight of her father standing close beside her.

"You still have our gift to unwrap," Hershel said, tilting his head towards Annette as he spoke. "Come on. I'll take you to it now."

Beth inadvertedly found herself frowning in confusion, not too sure where on earth her present from her parents would be if it wasn't in this room. Still, the waitress didn't say anything and followed her daddy's lead out of the room, everyone else following behind her with knowing smiles on their faces.

.

.

.

"I can't accept this."

From beside her, Hershel chuckled. "You don't have a choice," he said, his blue eyes practically twinkling as he looked down at her. "We already bought it."

Tears were welling up in her eyes and out of everything that Beth had ever expected to receive for her birthday, a car had most definitely been at the bottom of the list. It wasn't anything much, but it was practically brand new and had four doors and seated five people and it had enough space for her and was reliable enough to get her to and from college and work and anything and everything in between.

Beside her, Annette was talking on - something about wanting her youngest daughter to finally be able to be more independent and how this would help her in so many ways - but truth be told, Beth wasn't really listening to anything that her mama was saying. Or her daddy, for that matter, as he chipped in every now and then with an odd comment to back up everything that his wife was saying.

It wasn't that Beth was purposely being rude or ignorant towards her parents, but she found it almost impossible to really process anything that they were saying to her when she couldn't look away from the silver vehicle that was parked in front of the house with a big bow on it that was now her own.

"I don't know what to say," Beth said, her voice low and almost a murmur. She didn't even look at anyone as she spoke, her attention soley focused on the car and nothing else.

With a knowing smile on her face, Annette wrapped one of her arms around Beth's shoulders and pressed a soft kiss to her cheek. "Don't say anythin' at all, sweetheart," she said, and those tears that had been threatening to fall earlier were coming back once again.

From behind her, Hershel took a few steps forward so that he was stood next to his wife and his daughter and he too placed one of his arms around Beth's shoulders, kissing the top of her head before murmuring out a "happy birthday, Bethy."

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.

.

It was sometime around three o'clock when Beth turned the car around and made her way back to the farmhouse. After receiving her birthday gift from her parents, Beth and her older sister had decided that it would be fun to take the car out for a test drive and get Beth used to driving once again since it had been a couple of years since she had actually passed her test and got her license. Unfortunately, the drive hadn't been anywhere near as fun as Beth had expected it to be.

Well, it had been fun until she had gone and opened her mouth about her boyfriend.

Maggie was sat beside Beth in the passenger seat of the car, staring straight over at Beth with her eyebrows arched higher than Beth had ever seen them reach before. Apparantly, it had been something similar to a mistake to tell her older sister that she had been dating Daryl Dixon for some time now; although why on earth it was such a problem, Beth wasn't at all sure.

"Daryl _Dixon_?" Maggie said, repeating his name with a tone of something that Beth could only pinpoint as utter disgust that had the younger Greene girl wanting nothing more than to throw her out of the truck.

There was something flashing through Maggie's hazel eyes that looked close to anger, but after a couple of seconds it settled to something that seemed to be more like _sympathy._ The older of the two girls' voice immediately softened, and although Beth knew that her sister was trying to be nice and that her heart was (kind of) in the right place, it really was nothing more than patronising.

"Oh Bethy, are you _crazy_?" Maggie asked, the last word emphasised in a way that caused Beth to wince and the scar on her wrist - the one that was always skillfully covered with her favourite watch that daddy had bought for her eighteenth birthday and an ever-changing variety of bangles and bracelets - burned hot against her skin. "What were you thinking?"

Although Beth knew that Maggie (probably) hadn't necessarily meant anything overly personal with her poor choice of words, the younger of the two frowned anyway, glancing over at her older sister for a second before she returned her attention to the road. "What do you mean?" Beth asked, stuttering over her words as she tried her best to concentrate on driving.

A sound that Beth could only describe as a scoff escaped Maggie's lips, and from the corner of her light blue eyes, Beth could clearly see that her older sister was shaking her head back and forth as though she was in some sort of state of disbelief. Although Beth had known that Maggie would have been surprised at the news of her new boyfriend, she had definitely never imagined that Maggie would react like _this._

After all, it really was not that much of a big deal. Even her mama and daddy had liked Daryl. As always, Maggie was just... over reacting.

To say the least.

"God, you are _so_ naive at times," Maggie mumbled under her breath. It was likely that the words were said more to herself than they were to Beth, but the younger of the two women heard them anyway and her frown deepened even more as she continued driving back towards the farm.

Completely oblivious to the anger that was bubbling in the pit of Beth's stomach and quickly shooting up her body, Maggie looked over at her from the passenger side and gave her a sad sort of smile. It was the sort of smile that you gave someone when you pitied them, and that thought made Beth grip the wheel a little more tightly.

"He's bad news, Bethy. Jus' like his older brother."

The way that Maggie was talking to Beth as though the blonde didn't even know anything at all about the man who she had been dating for the past few months - the very man who Beth had been so sure in her heart that she was honestly falling in love with - had Beth rolling her eyes a little bit dramatically. "You don't even know him," Beth said, trying her best to keep her voice even and her words as strong as possible but knowing that in reality she was probably wobbling and wavering like crazy.

It hurt that her older sister would judge someone that Beth cared about so much with such ease and with almost no thought at all, but it also hurt that Maggie couldn't even just try and be nice or friendly or even slightly supportive on her younger sister's _birthday_ of all days.

"I don't need to know him," Maggie retorted as Beth slowed down the car enough so that she could carefully turn down the dirt road that led up to their daddy's farmhouse. Her older sibling's voice was once again filled with such confidence and certainty as she spoke that had Beth getting angry once again. "I can't believe this," Maggie muttered before she looked over at Beth. "I go away for a couple of months and look what happens to you."

As those words escaped her lips, Maggie laughed. Of course, it was more the sort of laughter that came with disbelief and almost bitterness, but it was laughter nonetheless and the sound had Beth practically seething.

"Look what happens to me?" the blonde repeated through gritted teeth, her tone very much showcasing her growing annoyance. "An' what is _that_ supposed to mean?"

"You know full well what it means," Maggie said to her, her tone bordering on snide now.

Not even sure why Maggie's opinion even mattered to her anymore - after all, it wasn't as though her older sister had ever had any sort of good judgement when it came to members of the opposite sex - Beth huffed loudly. "All I know for sure right now is that you're bein' a bitch to me for no reason at all."

Just a couple of minutes ago, this between them had not necessarily been some sort of un-bias and civil conversation, but it hadn't been an argument either. Now it seemed as though this was very much turning into an argument.

"No reason?" Maggie repeated, stressing the last word before she scoffed loudly. Gosh, it was irritating when she did that. "I've just found out that my younger sister is datin' some asshole who has to be at least twice her age. Where does he even live? Some run down cabin in the woods?"

Fury bubbled within her at that and Beth had a feeling that her face would be turning a deep shade of crimson in a moment, and most certainly not because of anything to do with embarrassment. "Daryl is not that old, and his cabin is not run down," Beth said, her voice rising higher and higher with every sentence that she spoke to her sister.

Again, Maggie laughed and shook her head, her chestnut coloured strands shaking from the movement. "What difference does it make, anyway?" Maggie asked as Beth pulled up outside of the farmhouse. At the sound of the car approaching, their parents made their way out onto the porch, her mama beaming proudly at the sight of her youngest daughter driving back towards the house.

From where she sat beside her, Maggie's eyes trailed over her younger sibling for a moment before a look of pure and utter horror appeared over her face. "Oh my god. You've not slept with him, have you?"

"Maggie!" Beth shreaked in annoyance, completely furious - and exasperated - by her sister's petty attitude by this point. Of course her older sibling knew full well that Beth had been a virgin just a few months ago, and despite the fact that things were definitely heating up between Beth and Daryl, things weren't necessarily going down that route just yet.

Mostly because of the fact that Daryl honestly didn't seem to want to do anything with her, but that wasn't the point.

"So what if I have?"

"Oh, god," Maggie groaned loudly as Beth pulled the car to a complete stop outside of the farmhouse, and almost as soon as the car was parked up Maggie hopped out, slamming the door shut a little too loudly behind her.

Hardly at all one to back down, Beth quickly followed suit, although she left her door open unlike her sister had. Beth was leaning her palms against the top of the car door as she watched her sister storm up towards the house, her shoulders squared off as she approached where their parents were stood. "Can't you just be happy for me for once?" Beth called towards her sister, her light blue eyes flashing with annoyance when Maggie stopped in her tracks and turned her head over her shoulder only to give Beth a disgusted look.

"Can't you just go for a _normal_ guy?" Maggie asked, her tone once again filled with spite. "I mean, what was so wrong with Jimmy? What was so wrong with _Zach_? They were both nice enough guys - "

"Daryl _is_ a nice guy! You'd know that if you just tried to give him a chance!"

At the sight of the two women arguing, Hershel stepped forward and began to make his way closer to his daughters, a frown on his face where a smile usually sat. He shouted Maggie's name as he narrowed his eyes at her, focusing on his oldest daughter for long enough for Beth to be able to position herself back in the driver's seat of the car without anybody noticing quickly enough to stop her.

It was probably the sound of the car engine starting up that caught everyone's attention, but by that point, it was too late. Without even a second look over her shoulder or a glance in the rear view mirror Beth pressed down on the accelerator and sped off back down the dirt path, trying her best to ignore the burning pit in her stomach as she made her way over towards the one place that she felt comfortable anymore.

* * *

When Daryl Dixon opened the door to his cabin, the last person he had been expecting to see had been Beth.

Today was her twenty first birthday and as far as he had been aware, she had plans with her family until later on in the evening when he had been planning to come and pick her up and take her out for something to eat.

Now it seemed as though he wasn't even going to get an explanation from the younger woman about how she had even managed to get to the cabin because the second that he opened the door wide enough, she had jumped forward and wrapped her slender arms around his neck and shoved her lips against his in a kiss that quickly turned passionate and needy.

It had only been two days since the two of them had seen each other last, but the way that she was embracing him now had Daryl feeling as though it had been weeks, maybe even months.

There was something different about the young blonde, that was for sure. Instead of being nervous or unsure, she was all confident and certain as she shoved him backwards, keeping her lips tightly pressed to his and her tongue probing in his mouth as the pair of them stepped further into the cabin. Somehow the waitress managed to shut the front door behind her as she guided him towards the couch, although Daryl wasn't really able to process anything that was happening until after it had happened, his reflexes and his general senses all messed up now that Beth Greene was kissing him.

For a second, Daryl tried to break their kiss - after all, a guy still had to breathe - but the blonde wasn't having any of it and wouldn't back off from him at all. Instead, she ended up straddling his lap across the couch, pushing herself impossibly closer to him as her hands trailed over his shoulders and his bare arms in a way that had him groaning into her mouth.

When Beth finally pulled away and allowed them both to take a breath, their chests were heaving up and down intensely. Daryl's eyes locked down on Beth's lips for a long moment before they flickered up to meet with her own light blue eyes, and the sound of a breathless laugh escaping her lips had Daryl's own twitching up in a smile.

"What are you doin' here?" Daryl asked, his chest still heaving up and down.

That little laugh escaped her lips again and now she seemed coy as she stared down at him, bumping her nose with his before she spoke. "You don't want me here?" she asked, the playfulness evident in her tone.

"Damn, girl," he muttered before pressing a chaste kiss to her swollen lips. "Course I do."

Nodding, Beth bit down on her lip before her face edged closer towards his once again. "Good," she murmured, voice all slow and hushed and driving him crazy in just the best way. "Then let's not talk about it right now. Alright?"

Her face was so close to his that Daryl couldn't even see her eyes anymore, but he nodded his head once in agreement - practically convinced that he would honestly agree to anything she said when she sat on his lap like this and spoke with her voice like that - before he was rewarded with yet another passionate kiss.

And sure, Daryl was curious about why his girl had ended up coming round a hell of a lot earlier than she was supposed to be, but now that she was here he supposed that it really didn't matter, so he allowed his arms to wind around her waist and his teeth to nibble on her bottom lip whilst she shuffled even closer towards him, driving him wild the way that she always somehow managed to.


	20. Chapter 20

**Hi everyone!**

 **I don't know how many of you read my other stories but I'm going to try and update as many of them as I possibly can today because I'm going away for two weeks on Sunday, meaning that there won't be any updates during that time. I'm working tomorrow and Saturday all day so today is basically the only day that I'll be able to update before I go away, so I'm just giving you a heads up now.**

 **I also just wanted to thank everyone who has stuck by me with this story. I can't believe this now has twenty chapters already - it only feels like yesterday that I had the idea for the first chapter - and I am so overwhelmed with the amount of positive words and support that I have received from all of your readers. To everyone who has taken the time to favourite, follow or/and review this story, then thank you so much. It honestly means the world to me and I LOVE hearing from you all.**

 **I hope you enjoy this chapter and I'll see you in two weeks :)**

* * *

"Oh my goodness," Beth breathed, her eyes wide as she stared down at the tiny box in her hands. It seemed as though her twenty first birthday had been filled with wonderful gifts and pleasant surprises, and even though Maggie seemed to have tried to spoil her day, it hadn't worked. Through it all, the young blonde was surrounded by people who loved her, people who cared about her and wanted to see her happy. "Daryl," she said, her voice all soft and sweet and her expression one of genuine surprise. "Daryl, you really, _really_ shouldn't have. I mean - Thank you, of course, but you really didn't need to get me anything at all, and I..."

There really wasn't anything at all that she could think to say to him in that moment and her words trailed off, and for once in her life, Beth Greene honestly felt as though she was speechless. Her light blue eyes flickered between the gift that sat in her lap and his deep blue eyes as he watched her intently, the way he had been doing as she opened every single one of his little presents. At first it had seemed as though Daryl had actually been nervous, but now there was just a knowing sort of look across his face as he watched her stutter over her words, her tongue all twisted and knotted as she struggled over what to say to him.

This man really was something else.

The blonde tilted her head and looked back down at the watch that was still sat neatly in the box, it's colour a sort of rose-gold shade that she had never really seen anywhere before. It was absolutely beautiful; incredibly simple and smart looking with a pale face and a few little crystals dotted around the face of it as an outline, but apart from that it was mostly plain. It was so perfect, though - exactly her sort of taste, nothing too fancy or flashy but just all elegant, girly and dainty, just how she liked thins to be.

Still, though. Beth was practically speechless. On the face of the watch was a designer brand name written in small letters that she didn't recognise at all, but Beth knew just by looking at the item that it was expensive. It must have cost him a small fortune; what, combined with the music-note necklace that he had bought for her and the matching earrings too, Beth was now feeling incredibly spoiled in this moment.

Even more spoiled than when her mama and daddy had unveiled their own gift to her. Of course the car was a wonderful present and a practical one, too, but Beth couldn't help but love the gifts that Daryl had bought her a tiny bit more.

She hoped that didn't make her a horrible person, but at the same time she didn't really care much at all. Inside of her chest her heart was practically growing larger and larger, her emotions for him completely overwhelming her whole body as she tried her best to keep herself calm and keep her thoughts rational.

It was difficult though, because in that moment, Beth Greene was absolutely sure that she had fallen in love with Daryl Dixon.

Absolutely lost for words, Beth found herself looking up at her partner again - her eyes still wide and her lips still parted - before she offered him a small and soft smile. "Thank you," she said, her tone light as her eyes trailed over his features.

From where he sat across from her on the couch, Daryl seemed to have relaxed slightly now (although Beth honestly had absolutely no idea why he would even be unsure of whether she would like her presents in the first place) and just nodded his head at her in response. Her man most definitely was not a man of many words, but it didn't matter to her in the slightest. Not anymore. He had always been quiet around her and it was something that Beth had grown to really appreciate about him; and even if she had never expected anything like this from him, she had never really expected anything less from him either.

As far as Beth was concerned, Daryl Dixon was absolutely _perfect._

Her fingers skimmed over the outline of the watch and Beth couldn't help the smile that graced her face as she gazed down at it. The student had never really been one for material things and had been used to living on a tight budget for a while now, but she appreciated the gift all the same (even if she didn't know the brand who made the item). Unable to help herself, Beth moved the box to one side as carefully as she possibly could - already treating the item as though it was worth more than her life - before she leaned over and pressed a soft kiss to Daryl's cheek.

They may have been together for a while now and he may have kissed her in ways that Beth Greene had never been kissed before, but the chaste action had the tips of his ears burning red in a way that Beth didn't miss at all. The sight of him shifting as though he was almost uncomfortable under her affectionate gaze had the blonde giggling slightly, leaning in once again to press a kiss to his lips this time.

The action seemed to relax him somewhat, and Beth grinned into their kiss as she wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders, her hands meeting at the back of his neck where the ends of his hair stopped.

"Thank you," she murmured into his mouth, pressing another kiss to his lips as she spoke. "They're beautiful."

Letting out an _mhmm,_ Daryl continued kissing her, not bothering to say much more in response to her words of thanks.

Not that Beth minded much at all.

.

.

.

Somehow, the pair of them had ended up tangled on the couch, Beth wearing nothing but her underwear and Daryl donning nothing except his boxers and a plain white vest. Again, he had flinched and seemed incredibly uncomfortable when Beth had tried to remove the item of clothing from his upper body and so she had left it alone, deciding that today was not the right time to discuss the matter.

Perhaps she would save it for another day, though. Another day soon.

Their kisses were more heated now; urgent and needy, full of tongues dancing and teeth clashing as hands wandered over the others body. The two of them had never gone this far before - of course Daryl had seen her without a shirt on before, but that was the most they had done, and as Beth ground herself down against his hardness she couldn't help but feel as though she wanted much, much more than what he had been giving to her.

As their lips broke apart, Daryl moved his head down and began to pepper open-mouthed kisses against the line of her jaw and then down her neck, suckling lightly on one of her collarbones - not hard enough to leave a mark, but enough to make her moan loudly in pleasure. Her hands were resting at the back of his head as she tugged on the hair there, her fingers running through his dark locks and tugging on it occasionally in a way that had him growling against her creamy skin.

The animalistic sound shot straight through to her core and had Beth throbbing almost painfully for more friction, desperate for just something _more_ from Daryl.

Her words came out all breathy and strangled, her tone desperate and almost broken as she gasped into the air. "It's my birthday," she started as he licked a trail from one collarbone to the next. "So I get whatever I want... Right?"

Daryl nipped at her skin with his teeth, causing her to yelp out; not in pain, though, but just out of both shock and pleasure. "Right," he agreed in a murmur against her chest, his head dipping lower as he pulled down one of the cups of her bra so that he could access one of her breasts.

The way that he sucked against her nipple had Beth groaning loudly, her hands still on his head pulling him impossibly closer towards her, encouraging him to continue his assault against her chest as he sucked and swirled and nipped against her.

Beth breathed out his name as a plea, her eyes squeezed tightly shut. "I want you," she said, her voice practically a whisper as he released her nipple from his mouth and got to work on removing her bra. "I want you so, so much," she continued, and he silenced her with a kiss as he disposed of her bra, tossing it somewhere behind them both.

When her hands began to wander down towards his boxers, Daryl caught her quickly with one of his own and broke their searing kiss, shaking his head a little as he rested his forehead against her own. "Nah," he said, refusing her access despite the fact that Beth knew how much he wanted this, too - could feel just how much he wanted this as he pressed against her leg. "S'all about you, girl," he explained, and then his hands were cupping her face and pulling her in for a kiss again.

At some point, the older man moved them both from the couch to the floor with ease, his strength always surprising her. Her back was pressed flat against the floor of his cabin as his tongue probed her mouth, and from where Daryl positioned himself above her, Beth could still feel just how much he wanted her with each inadverted thrust of his hips.

The way that Daryl was moving himself against her had Beth moaning into his mouth, and when his lips tore apart from hers again and started to trail down her neck, Beth let out a content sigh and let her eyes fall shut once again. However, the young blonde was incredibly surprised to find that his trail of kisses didn't stop at her chest like they usually did, and instead Daryl continued to kiss down the rest of her body, past her stomach.

Her light blue eyes shot open in surprise when she felt his fingers brush against her core through her underwear and Beth's upper body shot up. The waitress rested her weight on her elbows as she gazed down in wonder and surprise as Daryl shifted her panties to one side, effectively exposing her core to his hungry eyes.

It was all so much at once. Nobody had ever been in such an intimate position with her before and despite the fact that Daryl had touched her there two or three times before, he had never been in such close proximity to her as he was now. Perhaps later on when she thought about it she would be embarrassed but for now Beth was too far gone, filled with desire and lust as she watched him trail one of his fingers along her slit.

The sensation was nice, but it was familiar to her as well. It was when he moved closer towards her and pressed a kiss to her clit that Beth moaned out loud, her head tilting back and her eyes widening impossibly as he began to lap at her with his tongue. The foreign sensation was wonderful and soon Beth was grinding herself into his mouth, watching as he licked and sucked at her swollen bud with a hunger that she had never seen from him before.

Daryl was practically devouring her as she lay before him on the cool floor of his cabin, her legs trembling and her stomach muscles relaxing and contracting at an extreme rate. As he continued his assault on her clit whilst he moved his fingers in and out of her, Beth practically screamed into the space of the living room; and if she had any room in that moment for conscious thought then maybe she would be relieved that her partner lived out in the woods with no neighbours to be concerned about.

But as she came apart under his tongue and his fingers, Beth most certainly did not have any room for conscious thought. Her orgasm ripped through her like none other before had, and her breathing was ragged as she fully collapsed against the floor, the images of Daryl's head nestled between her thighs burned into her mind where they would most likely stay forever.

* * *

When Daryl had been mulling over what to do for Beth's twenty first birthday, he had settled on the idea of taking her out somewhere to eat - maybe a nice restaurant or even just a local diner (definitely not the one that she worked at, of course) - but the younger woman had shaken that notion off almost as soon as he mentioned it to her. Without missed a beat, Beth explained to him that she really didn't fancy getting dressed once again (she had made sure that she was comfortable walking around in just one of his flannel shirts) and she really didn't want to put him out of his way, either.

Her point about getting dressed was probably quite valid, especially when Daryl was still wandering around in just his white vest and his grey boxer shorts. Besides, he didn't really want to see his girl wearing anything other than one of his flannel shirts - one that was just a regular fit on him but that fell to the middle of her thigh and that hung off her shoulder because she was so damned small - so he didn't bother trying to argue with her on that front. Besides, today was her day; it was her birthday, so whatever she wanted, she got.

Not that Beth Greene didn't exactly get whatever it was that she wanted on any other day, though.

Not when it came to him, at least.

Once Beth had decided that tonight she was craving some greasy Chinese food, she quickly got a number up on her phone and called what she told him was the best take away in the whole town. The food was ordered to be delivered and it surprisingly didn't even take all that long for it to arrive despite the fact that it was coming all the way to his cabin in the middle of the woods, and Daryl didn't even hesitate to let Beth answer the door (although he did make sure that he passed her a twenty dollar bill and insisted that he paid for their dinner) despite the fact that she was pretty scantily clad.

The delivery driver from the take away was oggling her as though he had never seen a woman dressed in her boyfriend's shirt before, and from where Daryl was stood a little further back from the front door he could see the way in which the boys eyes trailed up and down Beth's body, hovering over her long, pale legs for a little too long for his liking. Not even realising what he was doing, Daryl's chest puffed out slightly and his hands curled up into fists, his glare set over at the young man as he waited for him to notice him standing in the background.

On a whole, the boy seemed to be pretty nervous around her - not that Daryl blamed the kid, of course; after all, he had been the same way when he had first caught sight of Beth Greene - and was all stuttering and dropping his change on the wooden porch outside of the cabin. It was plain to see that the boy was absolutely mesermised by her, but as always, Beth seemed completely oblivious to it all, crouching down to help him pick up the change that he had dropped and handing it to him with what Daryl could only imagine was a huge smile on her face.

Once the boy managed to catch sight of him hovering a little further back in the living room of the cabin he visibly paled, his eyes widening dramatically before he rushed off without another word, leaving Beth standing at the front door looking out after him. As the door to his car slammed shut and he sped away at a quick speen, Beth turned around to face Daryl - who had dramatically relaxed his stance - and frowned in confusion as she made her way over towards him, the bags of food in her hands.

"What was all that about?" she mused, still frowning when she reached where it was that he was stood.

Before Beth could manage to get any further into the cabin, Daryl stepped directly in front of her and took both of the plastic bags from her small hands. In a move that actually shocked him once he had realised that he had done it, Daryl bent himself down slightly so that he could capture her lips in a soft and innocent kiss before he shrugged his broad shoulders at her and walked into the kitchen.

"Ain't got a clue," he called over his shoulder to her as he placed the bags down on one of the counters and grabbed two plates, beginning to pile up the food and split it evenly between them.

His girl might be skinny, but she had a pretty good appetite.

Normally, Daryl would have just eaten the food directly from the plastic containers that it was in; but Beth was here and he thought it was probably best that he used some of his manners, so he made sure to grab a knife and fork for them each, too. As he set the plates down on the small kitchen table, he looked up to see where Beth was still standing in the doorway of the kitchen, staring out towards the front door with her arms crossed over her chest and a very confused expression on her face.

.

.

.

"This is _go_ good," Beth said as she licked her lips and then scooped some more of the noodles into her mouth, moaning loudly - although completely inncoently - as she did so. The blonde looked as though she was genuinely really enjoying the meal despite the fact that Daryl thought that it was just some cheap take-away shit, and even though he had really wanted to take her out somewhere nice for her twenty first birthday, at the same time he was also sort of glas that they didn't go anywhere else.

Besides, it seemed as though his girl was pretty easy to please when it came to what food she wanted.

As he scooped some of his chicken into his mouth and chewed on it, Daryl could still taste all of her on his lips and on his tongue. As Beth rambled on - more to herself than to him, to be honest - about how this meal was one of the best things that she had ever tasted, Daryl literally had to bite down on his cheek to resist the urge to disagree with her.

After all, it wasn't like the girl had ever actually tasted herself, so how was she supposed to know what it was that he was thinking? Maybe Beth had caught little bits of her taste afterwards when his tongue had entered her mouth when they shared lazy kisses on his couch, but she had never tasted herself in the same way that he had just done.

If she had, then Beth would most definitely not be talking about how good this crappy take-out Chinese food was. Right now, the pretty blonde had absolutely no idea just how much he couldn't get enough of her, and Daryl was happy to know that she was spending the night mostly because it meant that he would more than likely have another opportunity to taste her again.

.

.

.

The next day, Beth headed back to the farm with her new watch and matching earrings and necklace all on show. There was a bright smile on her face that Daryl was happy to know that he had put there and as much as he wished that his girl would be able to stick around for a little while longer, he had to get to work.

Just because Beth didn't have to work at the diner as much didn't mean that he still didn't have to go down to the bakery. The business was his responsibility and he really didn't have much of a choice about whether he went in or not. The odd day off so that he could spend time with her, he could manage; but he didn't want to let the place slip through his fingers.

Beth had filled him in on what had happened back at the farm with her sister and although Daryl had never met Maggie Greene before in his life, he already disliked her. It wasn't as if he even disliked that many people, either, so it most definitely was not a good start for the two of them. In his whole life Daryl had pretty much gotten used to people judging him before they even knew him so it rarely bothered him anymore, but the way in which her sister had gone about the whole thing - the way in which she had basically tried to ruin her whole birthday celebration - had Daryl's blood boiling.

"I'll see you soon," Beth said as she stepped up on her tiptoes and pressed a kiss to his lips as the two of them stood on the porch area outside of his house, both about to step down towards their vehicles. "Now I've got the car I'll be able to come round and see you a lot more than before."

Daryl nodded his head at that, his lips twitching up in a smile before he could really help himself as he stepped over towards his bike whilst Beth walked towards her car. "You better," he told her, and Beth beamed across as him as she opened up the drivers side door.

"I promise," she said before she slid inside of the car, shutting the door behind her whilst Daryl set himself up on the bike.

The older man waited until she had reversed away from his cabin and had driven off back towards the road before he set off on the bike himself, turning the opposite way that she did so that he could get to the bakery whilst she went back to the farm.

Without Beth around to keep him company, Daryl knew that today was going to be a slow one, and then when he realised that he was working with both Abraham and Rosita today, he groaned inwardly as he sped off towards the bakery.

* * *

 **I don't know why, but in my mind there's just something kind of funny about Daryl Dixon pulling up outside of his bakery on a motorcycle and leaving it parked outside whilst he works there.**

 **Thanks for reading!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Hello!**

 **So it's not _quite_ been two weeks but I had this floating around in my head so just wanted to get it written and then published on here. Not much happens in it but I hope you enjoy it anyway.**

* * *

It was thankfully peaceful out at the barn where Beth busied herself by brushing over the hair of Nellie's mane, singing songs underneath her breath to fill the silence as she worked away. The young woman had probably been out at the barn for at least a good forty five minutes before she heard the sound of heavy footsteps approaching over the grass.

Although it seemed as though it had been forever and ever since all three of the Greene children had been together on the farm all at once, Beth just _knew_ it was Shawn who was coming to see her.

Well, it was only between her brother and her sister, after all, since her mama and daddy had gone into town not long before and they weren't expecting to be back until later on that evening. And since it was only one of her two siblings that would be approaching her at the barn, Beth knew that there was absolutely no possible way that the person who was coming to see her would be Maggie Greene.

The older of the two Greene girls had actually listened to the advice that had been offered to her by Hershel and Annette (apparantly there _was_ a first time for everything) and the brunette had stayed well away from Beth over the last few days; leaving her completely alone and barely even looking up in her direction, never mind actually acknowledging her presence.

It hurt to know that there was - once again - a rift between the two of them, especially when it was over something so silly and when it seemed as though everything had been completely taken out of hand. Still, none of the Greene's - including Beth - were naive enough to believe that all of the fuss that Maggie had created with her sister was genuinely just about Daryl Dixon.

In all honesty, the whole thing most likely had absolutely nothing to do with the older man whom Beth had started up a relationship with and was instead everything else to do with Maggie's incapability to acknowledge the fact that her little sister was actually _happy_ and _healthy_.

No; it seemed as though it would be impossible for Maggie to ever fully accept the fact that Beth was actually doing absolutely fine nowadays and that there was absolutely nothing at all to worry about when it came to both her mental health and her general mindset.

Bitter as it may have seemed to anybody else outside of the situation, Beth couldn't help herself but to feel at least a tiny bit of resentment towards her older sister for causing such an uproar on her twenty-first birthday of all days. Not only that, but Beth thought to herself that perhaps if Maggie would have bothered to stick around at the farm with her family for a little bit longer than she did, or at least just visited - goodness, she could have even just _called_ her younger sibling every once in a while to check in - then it wouldn't have been so much of a surprise to her to see that Beth was genuinely alright.

Maybe Maggie didn't realise that people could recover from depression, though - perhaps she thought that Beth would always be stuck in the same negative place, and perhaps it was strange for Maggie to see that Beth was different now.

Even so, Beth was anything but interested in making excuses for her sister in the same way that she was anything but interested in accepting any excuses from her sister about it. At the end of the day, it had been Maggie who had ran when things actually started to get tough; at a time when Annette had been incredibly sick and her daddy had almost returned to the bottle and when at seventeen years old, Beth had struggled to cope with the pressure of trying to run the farm for her parents. Shawn was already gone at that point - working in the city - and Maggie knew that Beth was too young to be dealing with everything, knew that it was only a matter of time before her youngest sibling crumbled.

But she left anyway.

"If you've come out here to judge me too, then you can just... You can just _go,"_ Beth said as she attempted to keep her voice strong, never once bothering to turn her attention away from Nellie as the footsteps stilled somewhere behind her in their motions.

Although Beth was standing with her back facing towards the entrance to the barn so she wasn't able to see what her brother was doing behind her, she had a feeling that Shawn would have paused in the doorway before he made a move to approach any further.

There was a brief moment of silence that lasted for a few long seconds before Shawn eventually cleared his throat and spoke up. "Nah," he said, his tone soft as he stepped slowly - but loudly - into the barn towards where Beth was finishing off grooming her mare. "I wouldn't. That's not my style."

The comment wasn't even at all funny or even witty, but it was just so like him, and Beth had missed her older brother much more than even she had realised over these last few years. Unlike Maggie, he had come to visit every once in a while and had invited her to visit him too and had actually kept in touch - texting and face timing from time to time - but she had still missed him all the same.

At his words, Beth's lips naturally curled upwards into a small smile and she couldn't help but think about how her older brother had always had quite the knack for lightening the mood wherever he went, and she knew that this situation would be no different.

Just a few more steps and then Shawn was standing beside her, towering above her just like he had done for as long as she could remember, but for some reason it seemed as though he was even taller than he had ever been despite the fact that it had only been a couple of months since his last visit. Beth continued on with brushing Nellie's mane for a minute or two more before she finally placed the brush down on the stall and glanced up at her older brother, her large blue eyes dancing over his face as she took all of his features in.

"I'm goin' home soon," Shawn told her, looking at her straight in the eyes as he spoke. "Two days, actually. An' I wanna go for dinner with my little sister before I do." Before Beth could open her mouth to say anything else, Shawn was speaking again. "I wanna meet him, too," he said, smirking a little as he did so.

Not knowing what on earth to say back to her brother's request, Beth's half-open mouth quickly snapped shut.

.

.

.

When her brother had first mentioned the fact that he wanted to meet Daryl before he left to return to city life, Beth had been absolutely adamant that it would very much be a struggle to convince Daryl that having brunch with her and Shawn would be a good idea. Apparantly, she had been wrong about that, though. The only problem that she encountered was a _"what the hell is 'brunch'?"_ comment, but otherwise it seemed as though Daryl was happy enough meeting her older brother.

That wasn't to say that the older man was excitedly jumping for joy about the prospect of it all, of course. If anything, he seemed to be completely nonchalant about the whole thing, shrugging his shoulders and grunting out a _"sure"_ at her before he went back to hammering away at the shelf he was putting up on one of the walls of her cabin.

It was after their brief conversation about it that Beth realised that it was more convincing herself that this meeting was a good idea that was mostly the problem.

.

.

.

Being quiet and reserved was hardly a crime, but Beth couldn't help but think that Shawn might take everything the wrong way when it came to meeting Daryl Dixon. After all, the man was older than the pair of them and not that Beth meant to cause any offence to Shawn, but her boyfriend was a lot more masculine than her brother. Whilst Daryl was all muscle and grunts and general simplicity, Shawn was all tall and lanky, wearing skinny jeans that were deathly tight and drinking cocktails as opposed to beer.

They were polar opposites in all sorts of ways, and as much Beth absolutely adored Daryl, she also knew that he was gruff and could be particularly surly when he wanted to be, and he also wasn't necessarily the easiest person in the world to talk to, either. After all, she had danced around him long enough - for practically months and months on end - before he had even spoken to her properly, and even then it had mostly been her who initiated any real conversation between the two of them.

Meanwhile, her older brother was _loud._ That wasn't to necessarily say that Shawn was obnoxious or overly-annoying or necessarily rude; but his laugh was literally loud enough to make a lot of people turn around and give him curious glances, and he certainly was not shy - even when it came to meeting new people. In a way that was probably quite similar to herself, Shawn had a habit of talking to people (even one's that he had just met) like he had been best friends with them all of his life.

It usually meant that he over-shared on a lot of things.

When the three Greene children had been a little bit younger, there had been lots and lots of questions - usually fuelled by conversations with Shawn's high school teacher's - about whether or not he was just hyper-active or if it was something much more problematic and potentially serious. Over time, Shawn had calmed down a lot and had matured an awful lot too, but that didn't necessarily make him anywhere near as quiet or as reserved as men like Daryl Dixon.

The word that sprang to mind was confident (perhaps even over-confident, if Beth thought about it in all fairness), and whilst the young blonde didn't want to think to herself that Daryl and her brother wouldn't get along, she also didn't think that the two of them would necessarily hit it off, either.

Apparantly she had been wrong about that, too.

* * *

"Thank you for today," Beth said, her voice soft as ever as she rested her head against the padding of his shoulder. The two of them had returned from an early lunch with her older brother, Shawn - Daryl refused to call it 'brunch', whatever the hell that was even supposed to mean, anyway - and now despite the fact that it was still quite early on in the afternoon, the pair of them had retired to his cabin.

It had been instinct for him to move towards the couch but Beth had led the way into his bedroom, throwing back the covers and tucking herself underneath them as quickly as she could. The girl was always cold, even when he felt like it was far too warm, and she had pulled the duvet up right underneath her chin in an attempt to warm herself up. Although he thought it was a little bit weird that Beth wanted to get straight into bed so early in the day, he definitely wasn't going to complain about it or even question it out loud.

Especially not after he joined her in bed only to have her practically wrap herself around his body, her arms around his waist and one of her legs hoisted up around both of his, her head nestled onto his shoulder. Despite the fact that Beth was a lot smaller than he was - not just in height, but in her physical frame, too - she fit around him perfectly, like she just _belonged_ there.

Or something like that, anyway.

"Ain't nothin'," Daryl commented with a shrug of his shoulders. One of his arms was loosely hanging around her own shoulders whilst the other rested by his side, and the older man was lay flat on his back staring up at the ceiling.

Taking his shirt off around Beth was still completely out of the question for him; not unless it was dark and he knew for certain that she wouldn't be able to see anything, at least. Whenever she had caught him without a shirt, it had usually been by accident - she had surprised him or he hadn't been expecting her to come in - but so far, Beth had still not even caught a slight glimpse of the marks on his back.

He had a feeling that the longer he could keep it that way - keep her in the dark about it, keep her thinking that there wasn't any issue there - then maybe it would be for the better. After all, Beth was a lot younger than he was and as far as he was aware, her parents had never so much as spanked her, never mind beat on her the way his own daddy had done to him.

The pair of them most definitely had different upbringings, that was for sure, and the last thing Daryl wanted to do was make her anything close to upset.

Girls like Beth Greene - all soft and sweet, constantly smiling and laughing and just being generally _good_ \- were something else, and even though Daryl knew he didn't really deserve anyone like her in his life, he knew that he would do as much as he could to try and make her stay. Even if her finding out about his marred back didn't push Beth away, it would expose her to a type of darkness that she had never really had to ever acknowledge in her life before.

The last thing that Daryl needed was to taint the girl, for fucks sake.

"Well, it means a lot to me, anyway," Beth said, interrupting him from his thoughts as she snuggled impossibly closer towards him. He felt her tilt her chin upwards slightly from where she had been resting against his broad shoulder and even though he wasn't looking at her, Daryl could sense her light eyes blinking up at him. "It means a lot to my brother, too. I know he wanted to meet you before he left again."

Unable to help himself, Daryl snorted at that. "Wha's he wanna meet _me_ for?" the older man asked, a smirk on his face despite the fact that he didn't really find anything about this amusing. He was genuinely unsure as to why anyone would want to meet him; surely they just assumed that this thing between them was some sort of thing, something that was never going to last.

Hell, even his own brother had told him that it was only a matter of time before Beth opened her eyes and wised up to the fact that he wasn't worth shit.

Still, Beth was all bright and happy and god damn, she was _good,_ so instead of laughing along with his sarcastic question too, Beth pushed herself up so that she was leaning on her elbows and looking straight down at him. Her light eyebrows had drawn together in a frown and she looked almost annoyed, her eyes staying strongly on his.

"Why wouldn't he?" she asked, not even blinking as she spoke. "Shawn's my brother and he knows that we're together, so..."

Not sure what to say to that, Daryl visibly swallowed as he looked straight up at where Beth was hovering over him, her hair fanning around her face and falling around him, too. After a few seconds of his dark eyes being locked on hers, he nodded his head once to signal to her that he understood what it was that she was saying.

And he did, of course.

Sometimes it took him a few seconds to remember that her family was a lot different from his own; that even though her sister had been a brat these last few days, they all still loved each other, all still supported each other and cared about each other. It was a lot more than any of his family had done for him, even Merle had struggled to ever really be supportive of him or anything he did.

The feeling of her palm brushing against his cheek had Daryl snapping back out of his thoughts once again, and before he could even blink Beth was pressing her lips against his own.

After a second or two, he found himself returning the kiss, pulling her closer and wrapping both of his arms around the back of her neck.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading & please review! **


	22. Chapter 22

**I can't believe this story has received over three hundred reviews! Thank you so much, everyone. Your lovely words of support are always very much appreciated and I'm so happy that so many of you seem to enjoy reading this fic just as much as I enjoy writing it.  
**

* * *

"I thought that perhaps you should know that your sister will be leaving to return to Atlanta first thing in the morning."

It was quite late in the evening, but the sound of Hershel Greene's calm voice rolling through the warm space of Beth's bedroom didn't surprise her in the slightest; after all, she had already heard what could have only been her father's slow and steady footsteps as they made their way up the staircase and down the hallway to her bedroom.

There had not been a doubt in Beth's mind that it would be her that her father would be searching for at this hour - after all, the two of them had barely spoken that evening since she had a lot of reading to do after only her second day back at college. So when her bedroom door had slowly creaked open and it had been Hershel who had made his way inside the first section of her room, Beth hadn't even batted an eyelid in surprise.

In fact, she hadn't even looked up from the book that she was reading.

Not sure of what her dad expected her to say in response to his statement, Beth found herself simply shrugging her shoulders, signalling her indifference towards the topic of her older sister. It wasn't as though Beth didn't care about Maggie because of _course_ she did. No matter what, Maggie was family; she would always be family, and the two young women had so many memories of the times that they had spent together on this very farm when they had both been much younger, and those sort of carefree memories were irreplacable.

Goodness, Beth didn't even _want_ to replace them, either.

But at the same time, this whole blow up between the two Greene girls had also been a long time coming (which everyone seemed to throughly understand) and it was more than evident to Beth that she just could not sit back and allow her older sister to attempt to control her life. Maggie had always been bossy, but in recent years it had spiralled out of control, particularly after Beth's attempted suicide.

It seemed as though it was impossible for Maggie to believe that she was better, even after five years had passed since the incident. And the last straw in the calm facade that Beth had been putting on around her sister had been Maggie's generally poor attitude towards Daryl; a man that she barely even knew and judged anyway, despite the fact that her little sister was clearly head over heels with him.

From where he hovered in the doorway of her bedroom, Hershel let out a sad sigh at the sight of Beth's unphased response to his news, and the sound itself made Beth immediately feel all sorts of guilty. The youngest of Hershel's children shifted uncomfortably upon her bed and her eyes finally left from the page that she had been reading to look up at her father's tired face before she moved to close the heavy textbook that had been perched in her lap and placed it neatly on her bedside table.

Blinking up at her father as he stepped further into the bedroom and closed the faded white door to her room behind him, Beth felt a sort of sadness of her own fill her heart at the sight of his bright blue eyes. It was evident that this whole fall out between his two daughter's was causing him a lot of pain and stress; after all, it was rare that his eyes were ever anything but twinkling with happiness and knowledge, and tonight it seemed as though they were almost faded in colour.

"I'm so sorry, daddy," Beth rushed out in a heavy breath, running one of her hands through her long blonde hair nervously. The blonde was overcome with guilt at the sight of her worn-down father and she couldn't help the apology as it escaped her lips without any warning.

In all truthfulness, Beth really _was_ sorry - sorry that Maggie had been so thoughtless and had happily ruined everything once again, sorry that such a fuss had been made over the last two weeks all because of her sister's ignorance and stubborn attitude, sorry for her own general unwillingness to communicate with Maggie about their issues.

Another sigh escaped Hershel's lips, but it wasn't as heavy and sad this time. "It's not your fault, doodlebug," her father said reassuringly as he moved further into the bedroom and took a seat at the foot of her double bed.

Beth opened her mouth to speak - although what she would have said, she wasn't even remotely sure - but her father cut her off before she could even make a sound. "I know that this last week has been difficult for you," he began, looking at her with a serious expression. "And I need to take the time now to apologise to you for inviting your sister up here in the first place. Your mother and I just thought that -"

It was rude of her to interrupt, Beth knew, but she couldn't help but cut in and break her father off halfway through his sentence. "You don't need to say sorry to me," Beth said, shaking her head quickly from side to side to emphasise her point. "There's absolutely _nothing_ for you to even be sorry about. I would have been upset if Maggie wouldn't have been here for my birthday. You... You and mama. You did the right thing."

It was the truth, of course - had Maggie not bothered to turn up to wish her sister a happy twenty first birthday, then Beth would have most definitely been equally as frustrated and sad as she was now.

At her words, Hershel let a knowing smile grace his face. "Yes," he said, nodding his head once as his light blue eyes scanned over his youngest daughter's face. "But she did come, and she's still here now, too. And yet, you're still upset." Another sigh came out of Hershel's mouth as he shook his head and averted eye contact with his youngest daughter, instead choosing to glance around her room. "It seems as though we really can't win here, Bethy."

A small giggle came from Beth as she looked up at her father. "Yeah," she said in agreement, not even sure about why she was smiling so kindly as her father returned his focus back around to her. "Yeah, I don't think we can."

It was hardly as though the situation was at all funny, but Beth just couldn't stop herself from smiling fondly at her father.

Maybe this was just another thing that she had picked up to do whenever she was nervous. Another nervous trait was the least of her worries right now, though.

Her father looked down at her for a long moment before he cleared his throat and placed one of his large, warm hands over both of Beth's and gave them a gentle yet firm squeeze. "Anyway," he began, raising his brows as he looked down at her. "I just thought that you should know." He paused before he spoke again, his eyes never breaking contact from her own. "Just in case."

A groan escaped from Beth's lips before she could even stop it. "Daddy," Beth responded immediately, her shoulder's tensing slightly and her tone of voice mostly cautious and ever so slightly warning. It was more than obvious to Beth what it was that her father was trying to suggest to her in that moment and she wasn't at all sure that he had the right idea with all of this. "I don't think that it would be a good idea for us to talk. Not right now."

Never one to take no for an answer from anyone (because everyone who knew Hershel Greene seemed to know exactly where all of his children picked up their stubborn attitudes from), Hershel smiled down at his youngest daughter before he pushed himself up from where he had been seated at the foot of her bed. "You never know, Bethy," he responded to her before he left the room without another word, leaving Beth alone and confused as to what was the right thing to do in this situation.

.

.

.

Perhaps approaching her older sister whilst she was busy packing up the small amount of belongings that she had brought down with her to the farmhouse back into her navy suitcase wasn't the wisest of decisions that Beth could have made that day, but after her brief conversation with her father, the yongest of the three Greene children had decided that it would be better to at least attempt to make some sort of ammends with her sister; if only for her parents sake, not because Maggie deserved it.

As far as Beth was concerned, Maggie didn't really deserve anything.

"I hear that you're going to be leaving us in the morning."

It was awkward, of course, but Beth had not known what to say to try and break the ice between them and she thought that stating the obvious would at least kick-start some sort of interaction between the two girls.

Unlike the way in which Beth had known that Hershel was approaching, Maggie seemed to have been lost in a world of her own whilst she had been packing up her case of things, and the older of the two girls jumped violently at the sound of Beth's voice filling the silence. In one swift motion Maggie had span around quickly so that she was now facing Beth, her hazel eyes wide and her facial expression one of surprise as she stared straight over at Beth, who was smiling innocently in the doorway of what had been Maggie's bedroom.

It was still mostly decorated the same way in which Maggie had left it; with chocolate coloured walls and cream bedding and a soft green rug on the wooden floor, but it was very neutral and very bare, too. More than anything the room was simple, and although it wasn't as though the Greene's had house guests who spent the night very often, Beth knew that it was the reason her mama and daddy stated that they had kept both Shawn's and Maggie's rooms as bedrooms.

The youngest of the three Greene children had a feeling that it was something more to do with the fact that neither of them wanted to fully accept that two of their children had left the nest, so to speak, but she never mentioned that to anyone.

"Yeah," Maggie said once she had composed herself, although her breathing was still slightly laboured from where she had been panicked at Beth's intrusion. The brunette inhaled deeply and closed her eyes as she did so before she turned her back to Beth once again and resumed with the packing of her belongings. "Yeah, I am," Maggie continued, her voice a little bit shaky. "Hopefully leavin' early will help me beat the traffic."

Despite the fact that her sister obviously couldn't see her, Beth nodded her head up and down regardless. "That makes sense," she commented, understanding Maggie's point. It was quiet for a long moment before Beth spoke again, trying her best not to sound too awkward as she talked. "I just... I just wanted to say goodbye to you."

Another pause as Maggie stilled in her motions, and the brunette slowly straightened her back up so that she was stood upright, but she didn't make a move to turn around to face Beth just yet. Before Beth could help herself, she spoke up once more.

"Before you left," Beth continued, her eyes practically blazing as she stared directly at the back of her sister's head, willing for Maggie to turn around and face her. "Again."

The last word was emphasised and Beth didn't miss the way in which her sister's breath hitched at the sound of it. When she did turn around to face Beth once again, pain was more than evident on her expression, and if Beth didn't know her older sister any better then she would have been absolutely certain that she was about to cry in that moment.

This was Maggie, though - and Maggie Greene _never_ cried.

Not even when the two of them were certain that their mama and their brother were going to die after that wicked case of pneumonia.

Instead of verbally responding to Beth's comment, Maggie just visibly swallowed - no doubt fighting down the words that were threatening to tumble out of her mouth as much as she could - and then nodded her head slowly. For a couple of seconds it was awkward once again as the two women stared stright at each other, but it was done now and Beth knew that there was really nothing more left to say.

It hadn't been what she had been anticipating when she had made her way down to Maggie's old bedroom. Part of Beth had been expecting an argument with her older sister whilst another part of her had been expecting some sort of reconciliation.

There most definitely had not been a part of Beth that had expected any of this, and as she turned around to walk away - closing the bedroom door quietly behind her - she simply offered her sister a small closed lip smile as a final parting gesture.

It may not have been the interaction that Beth had been expecting, but still - it felt good.

* * *

"It's not like I'm asking him to do something that's completely _impossible_ or anything, you know?"

Daryl couldn't help himself but to sigh as he scribbled down his signature on the last page of the paperwork that he had to fill out, not even bothering to double check over what he had written down like he usually did to ensure that he hadn't made any mistakes.

Jesus, if he hadn't made any damned mistakes then he would consider himself to be a genius - it had practically been impossible to concentrate on anything whilst Rosita had prattled on with herself as she stood in the doorway of his office, picking her nails and tugging on her hair in frustration.

"Communication is _important_ in a relationship. Like really, _really_ important. And what am I supposed to do when he won't talk to me about how he feels about things? How am I supposed to just know what's going on in his head?"

Situations like this were always awkward for Daryl Dixon. It didn't matter who it was that was talking to him usually because he could just be pretty blunt and pretty honest and let whoever know that he was the worst person in the world to come to about relationship advice. Hell, he might be in a relationship now, but it was the first one that he had ever had in his thirty plus years of life and it was Beth who had been leading the way with that.

But he couldn't be all that blunt when it came to this because everything else be damned, he actually felt a little bit shitty for talking to his employees like that. It was difficult working with Rosita and Abraham because the two of them were very much in a relationship and had been for a while, but Daryl tended to blame himself for hiring the two of them in the first place and then for putting them on so many shifts together when they had both just started working here.

The baker shuddered at the thought of half of the shit the two of them had gotten up to in his shop over the last couple of years.

Now _that_ was something that he really didn't want to know.

Usually, Rosita and Abraham got along just fine - a little bickering here and there, but nothing that Daryl couldn't just ignore or brush off - but there were also other times (like these) where the two of them would go head to head and they seemed to find it absolutely impossible to get along with one another. In those situations, Daryl usually ended up having no other choice but to listen to one of them complain about their relationship problems, and this time it seemed as though it was Rosita who would be doing all of the complaining.

 _Lucky me,_ he thought dryly.

There was a lot of other stuff that came out of Rosita's mouth after that and all of it was just more moaning and groaning and complaining about Abraham, but she suddenly cut off halway through one of her sentences and just _stared_ straight at Daryl. The eery and very sudden silence had immediately caught Daryl's attention and it caused him to look straight up from where he had been putting on his leather jacket and he glanced over at where Rosita was still stood in the doorway of his office, but this time she was stood with her hands on her hips.

The latina was practically glaring at him and her eyebrows had very much so furrowed together, and now Daryl suddenly felt all sorts of sheepish - although he would never admit it. The baker matched her with a stony glare of his own and waited for her to voice whatever her problem was now.

It turned out that Daryl didn't have to wait very long at all.

"Daryl, are you even _listening_ to me?" Rosita asked, her brows furrowing together even further and her tone one of general frustration.

At her words, Daryl's hard face fell and he couldn't help it as his dark blue eyes widened. Not sure of what to say, the youngest Dixon brother cleared his throat and nodded his head at her several times. "O' course," Daryl said, hoping that his words were convincing enough to encourage Rosita to believe that he had indeed been listening to her as she had been ranting.

It wasn't as though Daryl necessarily wanted to lie to his employee because he really, really didn't, and had the circumstances been any different then Daryl would have straight up told her that no, he hadn't been listening and she could quite happily fuck off if she thought that she could boss him around like she did her boyfriend.

But the situation wasn't any different at all and right now, Rosita was talking all sorts of crazy about how much she hated the entire population of male's in the world and how useless they all were and the last thing that Daryl Dixon needed after a long day at work (because he had to get to work for seven every morning to make sure that he could get everything prepared for the breakfast and early lunchtime rush that the bakery got) was to get into Rosita's bad books.

Hell, Abraham was in them and he didn't seem to be having too good of a time at the moment, so Daryl decided that they must be pretty bad.

The brunette's shoulders sagged as she let out a long sigh of her own and shook her head back and forth, averting eye contact with her boss for a long moment. "I'm sorry for snapping," Rosita said, her genuine tone of voice - and the way that it cracked ever so slightly when she apologised - caused Daryl to feel just a tiny bit more guilty for not actually listening to her in the first place. "I... Honestly? I just love him so much, and he just drives me crazy, you know?"

Nodding his head up and down once (because that was something that he actually could relate to, in his own little way), Daryl offered Rosita a tiny smile. "Yeah," he said with a sigh as he finished pulling on his leather jacket. "Yeah, I do."

.

.

.

It had been almost four days since Daryl had last seen Beth now that her summer vacation had finished and she had started back at college once again to complete the final year of her degree. Apparantly, juggling all of her classes and a part-time job at Carol's diner as well as being in a relationship was pretty difficult (and Daryl found himself actually feeling pretty shitty for being some sort of distraction to her) and it meant that the blonde didn't have a lot of spare time on her hands.

Not wanting to overwhelm her at all or to be too much of a distraction, Daryl definitely understood Beth's predicament and he fully took a step back from their relationship - where they had became accustomed to seeing each other almost every day - and he made sure to try his best not to appear to be clingy or needy to her.

And in true Daryl Dixon fashion, he most certainly would not tell Beth just how much he had missed her company over the last couple of days because the last thing that he wanted to do right now was to scare her off by making her think that he was sort of crazy lunatic that needed to be around her twenty four seven. There was absolutely no doubt in his mind that he was addicted to this girl, but Daryl knew better than to voice any of that to her.

It wasn't as though Beth was naive just because she was young, but he still had a good thirteen years on her and whilst Daryl felt like he knew Beth well enough to know that she wouldn't just walk out on him, it would hardly be something that he wasn't used to if she did eventually do that. It was difficult for him to voice his emotions and his feelings as it was and the moaning that Rosita had been doing about Abraham and his lack of communication had gotten him thinking about how Beth might feel because Daryl wasn't necessarily the best talker in the world, but at the same time, he had always been that way with her and Beth surely had to know just how hard it was for him to voice a lot of things.

As his lips found hers in the darkness of his bedroom and as she curled into him the way that he had wanted her to for the past four days, Daryl found that he couldn't help but feel relieved at the sound of Beth whispering out the words that he had been wanting to say for himself ever since she turned up on his doorstep a few hours before.

"I missed you like crazy," Beth murmured to him between their kisses, her arms looping around his neck and her hands tugging on the ends of his hair, effectively drawing him impossibly closer to her. "All I've wanted is you."

And there were hundreds of things that Daryl could have said in response to those affectionate words; he could have told her all about how he had desperately missed her too, and about how he had wanted her and nobody else, too.

But he didn't. Because he was a dumbass. And he was emotionally damaged and fucked up and he had absolutely no idea how he was supposed to say any of that emotional crap to her in the first place, never mind how he was supposed to not scare her away with it all.

Instead of voicing any of what he was feeling, Daryl moved so that his lips found hers again and kissed her with more passion and more hunger than he had been doing previously. Before, their kisses were lazy and partially sleepy and slow, but now they were quick and fast and _hard_ and when Beth whimpered beneath him, Daryl couldn't help but smirk into the kiss.

At the same time, he just hoped that Beth would be able to _feel_ everything that he was feeling as he kissed her; hoped that she would be able to see through the whole silent-and-brooding act and just see for herself that Daryl cared about her.

Because _fuck,_ he cared about this girl a hell of a lot.

* * *

 **I apologise for not having much Bethyl bonding time in this chapter but I've tried my best to use this particular chapter to move some aspects of this story along and also to give us a better insight into the minds of Beth and Daryl.**

 **I'm thinking that this story will have between eight to ten more chapters. I have loved writing this fic so much and I am still very much enjoying writing it but I am working on a few Bethyl fics at the moment and I have even more ideas in my mind that I am trying my hardest to fight myself from writing because I don't want to have dozens of unfinished stories on here.**

 **I start back at University next week and I'm also starting my placement so I want to try and get this fic wrapped up along with A Stranger, A Suitor and Untouchable before I start probing around with anything else, and I also think I'll return to Chosen One sometime soon.**

 **As always, thank you for reading!**


	23. Chapter 23

_Sex._

The word never fell from her lips - _ever -_ but there was a part of Beth that actually wanted it to, a part of her that just wished that she could muster up the courage to just say it. And what seemed to be even worse was the fact that the general topic of sex and everything that goes along with it - including the act of actually _having_ it - never once came up in conversation between Beth and Daryl.

Not even one single time. _Ever._

Not even after all of the things that the two of them had done together on a sexual level.

Not even after Beth's hips moving in circles over his own, his hardness pressing against her centre through both of their jeans.

Not even after his fingers had found their way inside of her and explored her in ways that any other man never had, never would.

Not even after his mouth placing kisses on her core and his tongue tracing letters over her clit.

It had been obvious from the very beginning - as in the very early beginning, before there even really _was_ a beginning to speak about; when the two of them had barely even known each other, when she had first began to serve him at the diner and he had first began to leave her generious tips without even acknowledging her presence - that Daryl Dixon was not a talker. And that had always been perfectly okay with Beth. After all, she was certainly not the sort of girl who would go out of her way to attempt to change someone else and besides, she didn't even want to change him.

Beth was most definitely more than happy with her relationship with Daryl and she was also more than happy with him being just how he was; quiet and reserved and sometimes practically mute, but always kind and thoughtful and just generally _nice._ Despite the fact that he didn't seem to believe it, Daryl Dixon was a good man and Beth couldn't quite understand why not everyone else in town thought so highly of him just like she did.

Was it really all just because of his brother, because of his father? Because of things that were completely out of Daryl's control? Is that what a surname could do to a person in a town like this; paint them as someone who is damaged and tarnished, someone who is violent, someone who is a drunk, or even a drug user - or even _both_?

The thought of it made her angry, so Beth always tried her hardest not to dwell on it and always made sure that she ignored the whispers around town about Hershel Greene's youngest daughter and Will Dixon's youngest son and all of the trouble that they could possibly cause together.

And Beth ignored those whispered words because she knew the truth, and as far as she was concerned, that was all that mattered. Well, that and the fact that she was more than happy with Daryl, too.

But despite the fact that Beth was more than happy being in a relationship with a man who didn't vocalise his every little thought, that didn't go to say that Beth didn't want him to talk to her about certain things.

Especially things that were regarding important aspects of their relationship.

Things like sex.

And if she were going to be completely honest about it all, there had actually been (maybe a little more than) a handful of occasions where Beth had tried her best to steer their discussion in that sort of direction, because goodness knows that it would have been incredibly mortifying for Beth to actually jump straight to the point of it all.

What was she even supposed to say? _'Hey Daryl, wanna have sex?'_

Unfortunately for her, Daryl also seemed to be adamant on spoiling her plans of subtly changing the direction of their conversations. Every single time that Beth attempted to actually talk to him about anything sex related, then either Daryl had not understood what it was that Beth had been hinting at or suggesting and he had looked at her like she was perhaps going a little crazy and he was genuinely concerned for her, or the baker had instead dismissed the conversation and had just pretended that he didn't understand what it was that she was talking about, what it was that she was suggesting.

Most of the time it tended to be the latter of the two options. Not that Beth was keeping track or anything.

So since she had absolutely no idea what to do about all of this - and since she didn't really have anyone to turn to for advice when it came to the subject matter - Beth kept all those sorts of thoughts to herself, uncertain of what to say if it ever came down to the two of them actually discussing this like the mature adults they both were.

And at the end of the day, Daryl Dixon was her _partner._ The two of them were both in this relationship together and she wanted to be able to talk about these sorts of things with him. In her heart she knew that she was not brave enough to tackle this situation as of yet, but in time she knew that her courage would come, and she hoped that in turn so would his.

It was difficult for Beth to approach the topic of sex, though she also knew that it would be even more difficult for Daryl. The last thing that she wanted was for Daryl to misunderstand what it was that she was trying to say to him about all of this, because it certainly wasn't as though she didn't enjoy the things that they were doing now, and it also wasn't as though she wanted any of those things to stop.

At the same time, Beth didn't want to rush into something that the two of them weren't ready for.

It was impossible to tell how Daryl felt about all of this just by looking at him (which is something that she felt like he wished she could do, at times) but at the end of the day, he was a man - not even a boy, an actual full grown _man_ \- who had (presumably) much more experience in everything of a sexual nature than she did and who in turn had needs of his own.

At this point, Beth Greene knew in her heart that she was more than ready to have sex with Daryl Dixon, and she hoped that he was ready to have sex with her too.

Because whilst their passionate kisses and exploration of one another's bodies using their hands and their mouths was all well and good, Beth still wanted _more._

She knew that Daryl could most definitely give her more, too.

It was all just a matter of timing.

.

.

.

It was late by the time that Beth finished working at the diner - yet another shift of hers that had overran by more than an hour since Tara had handed in her notice without any sort of warning, leaving Carol severely understaffed and incredibly stressed - and subsequently even later by the time that she arrived outside of Daryl's cabin in the woods. It was so much easier to travel to and from his place now that Beth had her car, and she made sure that she thanked her parents for the vehicle almost every single day, because now she could be so much more independent than she ever had been before.

Because it was easier for her to get around places now, it meant that in turn Beth was managing to squeeze in more time to see Daryl into her already busy schedule. Classes were mostly taking over social life and the extra reading that she had to do now that she was in her final year of college was overwhelming, but somehow she was just about getting by without wanting to drop out at the last minute. Still, it didn't stop her from counting down the days until Christmas break just so that she would have a little bit more time to take a breather from everything to do with social work and have some sort of time to herself.

The situation at the diner was getting worse though, and Beth still didn't understand why Carol was yet to hire someone. Rick and Lori Grimes' son, Carl, had dropped by almost immediately after he had heard that Tara had quit, and despite the fact that he was only sixteen, Beth had a feeling that he would be a pretty good worker. Considering the fact that his dad was the town's sheriff and that he dropped by on a pretty regular basis, Beth knew that there was no way Rick would let him be any trouble for Carol.

It wasn't really any of her business what happened there, though. All that Beth hoped was that Carol would hurry up and just employ somebody - anyone, really, she didn't really care who - so that all of these extra shifts and these incredibly long shifts would just disappear.

Despite her jam-packed schedule, Beth absolutely adored every minute that she got to spend in Daryl's company and try as she might, she just couldn't wipe the huge grim from her face as she hopped out of her car. It was late on in the evening now; the sun had already set at least a good hour or two before, and the sky was dark and twinkling with stars whilst the moon was glowing brightly in the sky. Around the woods, it was incredibly quiet and peaceful - even more than it was at her daddy's farm - and not for the first time in her life, Beth envied Daryl for living in such a beautiful place.

Whenever she said that to him, though, Daryl would always scoff and shake her head. And usually he would mutter something about her being crazy and blind under his breath, but every time he did, Beth would just giggle.

She didn't think that she was all that crazy.

The big grin on her face never faltered as Beth made her way up the creaky wooden steps of Daryl's cabin and she wasted no time in knocking on the front door several times, turning around and scanning over the area as she waited for him to answer. It wasn't as though she had to wait all that long since the older man opened the door almost as soon as Beth had dropped her arm back down to her side, and the blonde had a feeling that Daryl must have seen her headlights approaching through the trees or parking up outside.

As soon as the door swung open, Beth beamed straight up at Daryl, her smile more than reaching her eyes as she stood patiently on the porch.

Daryl just frowned straight down at her.

"Hey," Beth breathed, her voice soft as she tucked some of her curled hair behind her ear - a nervous gesture that she had never been able to stop, no matter how hard she tried. Sometimes it caught her off guard, because there were some moments (like right now) when Beth didn't even feel as though she was necessarily nervous, but she supposed that she certainly wasn't all that calm, either.

Well, it _had_ been a couple of days since the two of them had actually seen one another, and she had been excited to see Daryl every moment since their last meeting.

And now, here she was; stood outside of his cabin in the dark and the cold, smiling up at him.

Whilst he continued to just frown down at her.

"Sorry that I'm late," Beth said, her smile relaxing slightly and turning a little bit more apologetic. "It was my shift at the diner, again -"

"Don't get why you've always gotta knock," Daryl said - well, grumbled more than anything - as he cut her off before she could even really start to explain herself. Beth had explained the situation to him about the diner before though, so she had a feeling that he had probably presumed that it was something to do with work when she hadn't shown up on time.

As he spoke, Daryl stepped aside slightly, silently inviting Beth to make her way inside of his home. Offering him a small smile in thanks, Beth brushed her way past him and walked inside.

Not really knowing what she should say back to Daryl's complaint about her knocking, Beth just let out a soft sigh as she walked straight into the living room, making a beeline for her favourite of Daryl's two couches and then making quick work of taking off her knee high boots. "It's polite," Beth told him as she unzipped the first boot and practically yanked it from her foot, not being gentle at all.

Daryl snorted at her response as he closed the front door, turning the key in the lock and then bolting it at the top. Locking the front door was something that Daryl had been doing ever since the day that Merle randomly showed up at the cabin, and in all fairness, what had occurred that day had never happened again since he started actually locking up.

Despite the fact that Beth didn't know Daryl's older brother all that well, she had a feeling that a locked door wasn't going to do much to stop Merle Dixon. At least it served as a deterrent, though.

As he moved to sit himself on the opposite sofa, Daryl arched a brow at her. "You reckon'?" he quipped, a hint of a smile playing on his lips as he watched Beth struggle to tug off her other boot. It was quiet between them both for a second until Daryl spoke again, his tone and his expression suddenly turning much more serious now. "You ain't gotta worry about bein' polite around here no more, Beth," he said, looking directly at her as he spoke.

As Beth placed both of her boots neatly at the end of the couch, she slowly looked up so that she could lock eyes with Daryl from where he sat across from her. Visibly swallowing, Beth nodded her head once to show that she understood what it was that he was trying to say to her, able to read the unspoken words that shone from his deep blue eyes. The older man continued to look directly at her, not even blinking as he did so.

Those long looks that he gave her - his expression usually intense yet generally unreadable - drove Beth absolutely crazy. Her heart pounded in her chest as she stared directly back at him, wanting to tear her eyes away and focus her gaze on anything but the blue of his own eyes, but it was impossible.

It was then in that moment as Daryl silently told her about how she was more than welcome here, here in his home, here in this place that was just so _him_ that Beth acknowledged to herself for the first time that she was actually in love with this man.

And goodness knows what she was going to do about that.

* * *

Small talk had never been Daryl Dixon's strong suit, but he managed to think of something to say to Abraham whilst the two of them boxed up some of the freshly baked bread from that morning. "Take it you two made up again," Daryl grunted, his eyes flickering over to where Abraham stood beside him for a second before they returned down to the box of bread.

Inhaling a deep breath that made his chest puff out, Abraham nodded slowly, his own eyes never moving from where he stared down intensely at the baked goods in his large hands. "Yeah," the redhead said, clearing his throat before he continued with his slight explanation. "Yeah, we did. But I still don't have a clue what the hell she wants from me."

At the combination of Abraham's words and the man's genuinely confused tone of voice, Daryl almost smiled.

Almost.

It was quiet between the two of them for a little while again after that, neither of them bothering to speak as they instead focused on the task at hand. It was Abraham who chose to break the silence next.

"How's things with your girl?" he asked Daryl, still not bothering to look up from where he was very heavily concentrating on packing up the bread. Rosita had taken it upon herself to order some new fancy looking boxes for the bakery - he attempt to make everything look a lot more 'appealing' to customers, apparently - but whilst the latina had had plenty of fun ordering the damn things, she sure as hell seemed to have absolutely no interest in actually setting them up or packing anything into them.

No, it seemed like that task had fallen on Abraham's and Daryl's shoulders, which was funny considering neither of them really gave a shit about these damned boxes anyway.

It wasn't as though Daryl had ever been the sort of person who talked about himself with absolutely everyone, but he had a specific rule to himself that he didn't go into too much detail about his personal life with his employees. No matter how much he liked Rosita and Abraham, there still had to be some sort of boundary between them all, some sort of line that couldn't be crossed when it came to how much they knew about him.

So instead of really responding to Abraham's harmless and probably innocent question, Daryl just shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and made a sound in the back of his throat that told his colleague that things between himself and Beth were absolutely fine.

Nodding his head, Abraham spoke up, his tone genuine. "Glad things are goin' well between you two," he said just before a real smile spread across his face as he finished up wrapping an actually neat bow around the new box that he had just made. Daryl's eyes immediately cast down to it to see what Abraham was smiling about.

At the sight of the small package in Abraham's hands, Daryl's deep blue eyes widened slightly.

Hell, it actually looked half decent.

Shaking his head, Daryl averted his gaze away from Abraham so that he was once again focusing upon his own box of bread, but before Daryl could stop himself, he was responding to Abraham's words.

"Me too," Daryl commented, surprising the pair of them by actually voicing his thoughts. Despite the fact that Abraham didn't say anything about it, it was obvious by just looking at the other man's expression from the corner of his eye that Daryl had surprised him. Abraham seemed to be taken over with a mixed expression of surprise and confusion, but still, he didn't say anything more about it.

At least for that, Daryl was glad.

.

.

.

"God _damn,_ girl," Daryl grunted out through gritted teeth. Both of his hands were balled into fists and resting almost awkwardly by his sides, his deep blue eyes also squeezed tightly shut despite the fact that he really, _really_ wanted to watch this.

The problem was that Daryl was having a hard enough time trying to keep himself together as it was, and the last thing that the baker needed in that moment was to go and do something like open up his eyes and look down at Beth Greene, straight into her much lighter shade of baby blue's and observe her as she worked before him, resting on her knees on the floor of his office.

Just the imaginary thought of the way that she might look in that moment already had Daryl nearly blowing his load all the way down the back of her throat, so he definitely didn't want to risk the act of actually looking.

Because the thing was, no matter how many times he had refused her this opportunity and no matter how long he had been putting _this_ dynamic between them off for, it felt better than he could even describe. For what felt like forever, the baker had been resisting all of the primal urges that overcame him whenever Beth Greene was even close by, and now that he was actually indulging himself in what he had tried his best to fight for so long, Daryl decided that he definitely did not want this moment to end anytime soon.

Well, at least not in the next five minutes or so, anyway.

And Daryl Dixon had absolutely no idea whatsoever about how the two of them honestly happened to find themselves upon this exact position. One minute the two of them had been sitting very nicely in his office; him leaning back in his computer chair as he checked over the takings for the day and Beth perched upon his desk, watching him with a soft smile on her face as her feet hovered just slightly above the floor.

And then, it had all happened so quickly.

He remembers that there had been a song that she had started to hum and it had caught his attention for a couple of long seconds. And then there had been words - her light blue eyes on his as she sang, voice soft yet filled with confidence and certainty - and then her mouth had been on his.

But how on earth the pair of them had ended up like _this,_ Daryl genuinely could not remember. It really had all flashed by in a blur. One second they were kissing each other and the next she was resting before him on her knees, Daryl's pants tugged around his ankles and his head thrown back so that the crown of it rested against the closed wooden door whilst Beth worked her mouth over his cock.

It turned out that Daryl managed to last just a little bit longer than he honestly thought that he would do before he released himself deep into her mouth, his dark eyes burning down directly into hers whilst he came. And to give Beth Greene credit, she didn't even blink or blush as she gazed straight back up at him and then swallowed down his cum, licking the remaining mess from where it leaked out of his dick - causing him to violently shudder - before she rocked herself back on her ankles and slowly moved to stand up.

Daryl's pants were still around his ankles for a good few minutes later whilst he allowed himself time to come down from his high, his eyes shut closed once again, but his expression was one of contentment and bliss. When he finally re-opened his eyes, he found Beth stood before him wearing a soft smile on her face, her light blue eyes practically twinkling with mischief.

And he opened his mouth in an attempt to say _something_ to her, but it came out more like a strangled little cry and the tiny blonde in front of him practically beamed at the noise that he had made. Daryl couldn't help but blush in pure embarrassment, but he quickly forgot about the pathetic little squeak when Beth outstretched her palm to his cheek, effectively cupping his face.

The affectionate move caught him by surprise - he was still a little dizzy as he came back down to earth, back down to himself - and despite the fact that he really did not want to, Daryl's automatic responses took over and he flinched away from her, stumbling backwards and whacking the back of his head into the wooden door as he did so.

He hit it pretty hard, too. The damn thing started throbbing and he cursed under his breath, turning his head around slightly as if to see what it was that he had walked into and then glared at it too, just for good measure.

When Daryl turned back around to face Beth - his eyes still narrowed from where he had been glaring at the door and his eyebrows still furrowed together - he saw the genuinely apologetic expression on her face, and he all but nodded in dismissal before she could even say that she was sorry.

It was all suddenly more than just a little bit awkward and Daryl distracted himself from Beth by focusing on pulling his pants back up his legs and buckling the belt of them.

"Wanna get out of here?" he asked, and Daryl immediately regretted that after everything that had just happened, _that_ was the first thing that he said to her. His tone was more than just a little gruff; his voice still slightly hoarse, and he knew that his expression was still showing how he was a little bit pissed, but he had suddenly been overwhelmed with the urge to bolt and right now, that was the last thing that Daryl actually wanted to do.

And despite the fact that his words had been anything but romantic and his tone of voice had been all wrong, Daryl was actually _trying_ here. Trying to move past the negative thoughts that clouded his mind, trying to fight the urge to just turn around and run away, trying to suppress all of the feelings that were so natural to him and trying to make things right.

As though she understood all of that - and hell, she probably did, because no matter what he said or what he did, this girl just seemed to understand absolutely everything that was going on in his messed up head - Beth just beamed right back at him as though he had actually said the most perfect thing ever. And the sight of her looking at him like that; like he was the best man in the world, like he had just done the most wonderful thing for her, had Daryl's heart rate picking up just so.

It didn't make him feel so bad when she looked at him like that. Not anymore.

"Yeah," Beth said, nodding her head confidently. "I would love that."


	24. Chapter 24

It had only ever really been a matter of time before Merle Dixon made the decision to suddenly re-appear in his younger brother's life once more, for one reason or another.

At least that's what Beth told herself as she sat in one of her classes, looking down at her mobile phone from where it sat on her thigh - hidden from the view of her tutor by the desk that she was sat at - and double checking as to whether Daryl had replied to the text message that she had sent to him that morning. As she dealt with the feelings of disappointment at the sight of having no new text messages, Beth cursed herself for being so ridiculous about all of this.

Worrying was absolutely unecessary and probably a little over dramatic of her, especially considering the fact that this was _Daryl -_ despite the way he seemed to give her his undiverted attention when the two of them were together, it was a completely different story when it came to his own phone. During the day, she was lucky to get a text message from him at all, but he had a habit of calling her every night, or at least every other night if he had been really busy or tired the night before.

Struggling to concentrate on what her tutor was saying, Beth let out a quiet sigh and locked her phone once again, shifting slightly in her seat so that she was sat more comfortably - and so that her phone slid down her thigh and fell into her handbag, which was resting by her feet. As her tutor talked on at her class about the different government schemes that were available for disadvantaged families (which she should really be paying attention to because it was actually a very important topic), Beth's mind fluttered elsewhere.

It was one thing acknowledging the fact that her boyfriend's older brother (who was also a drug dealer who had been in prison definitely more than once) was back in his life, but it was something else to have actually been there to see him waltz right back in as though he had never been anywhere else. Despite the fact that Beth didn't know all that much about Merle Dixon, she had picked up enough bits of information from Daryl to understand that Merle had always drifted in and out of his life, even at times when Daryl needed him the most, and it was something that the youngest of the two brother's seemed to understand but also resent.

Not that Daryl could be blamed for any negative feelings that he had towards Merle. Goodness, people would probably understand him hating his older brother more than they would understand him actually loving him.

But it was evident that Daryl did love his older brother, despite everything. It had been evident two nights before, when Beth had been lounging around watching some crappy show on Daryl's couch whilst he double checked over some books for the bakery and then the door to the cabin had shook lightly. At first Beth had assumed it had just been the wind, but the door did it again and again and then again, and the look on Daryl's face as he threw his paper's towards one side told Beth all that she needed to know.

Without needing Daryl to really explain himself at all, Beth had jumped to her feet beside him and had stared wide-eyed towards the wooden cabin door. When the sound of Merle Dixon's deep voice hollering for his brother reached her ears, Beth immediately obeyed Daryl's muttered - but still very serious - instruction to go to his bedroom and make sure that the door was locked behind her.

Thankfully, there had not been all that much shouting going on between the two brother's this time around, but that made it much harder for Beth to assume what was going on in the other room. Unable to resist the urge to not listen out for what was being siad, Beth leaned down slightly and pressed her ear against Daryl's bedroom door, straining herself in an attempt to make out the muffled voices as best that she could.

It was more than easy enough for Beth to make out everything that Merle was saying since his voice and his laughter were all loud and booming in a way that echoed throughout the cabin, and Beth had the feeling that even if she wasn't actually listening to what the two of them were saying then she would be able to hear every word that came out of Merle's mouth. The man was like a foghorn at times and was everything that his younger sibling was not.

Daryl's words, however, were much harder for Beth to pick up on, and it was only bits and pieces that she managed to hear from him in the end.

 _"The hell do you want?"_

Daryl had barked that one a bit louder than the rest of his words. His initial greeting to his older brother, and despite the fact that she had been locked away in the bedroom Beth could definitely picture the scowl on his face and the puff of his chest as he spoke.

And then it had been another question - _"Why d'ya always gotta go an' do this, Merle?"_ That one had almost broken her heart into two because she could hear in Daryl's voice exactly how torn he was about all of this. There was a part of her that felt bad for listening in on this conversation, but she knew that Daryl knew her more than well enough by now to assume that she was probably listening to this, anyway.

 _"An' wha' the fuck am I, your goddamned cash cow?"_

The harsh tone of his voice had caused Beth to almost wince and it was then that she started to piece things together. That question along with his reluctant words of agreement - a stern _"this is the last fuckin' time"_ \- told Beth all that she really needed to know about why Merle Dixon had been pounding on the cabin door at such a random hour of the evening.

And then there had been mumbled words that Beth couldn't hear even if she really, really wanted to. At one point, it was difficult to actually make out what it was that Merle was even saying back to his younger brother, and that alone shocked Beth enough to know that this really was a private conversation that she honestly had no business listening in to.

But still. _Still._ It was impossible not to be curious; not when your surname was Greene and you were intrigued by all sorts of things by nature and not when your boyfriend was Daryl Dixon, one of the quietest - and in turn, mysterious - men that she knew in this whole little town.

The last words that Daryl said to his brother rang loud and clear in Beth's ears, though. Out of everything that had been said between the two of them it was Daryl's plea - _"You've gotta get clean, Merle," -_ that stood out in her memory the most. And although Beth couldn't quite get to grips on the rocky relationship that the two Dixon brother's had, she could understand that Merle would always be Daryl's blood - be his _kin -_ and she knew that he didn't have anything more than that in his life.

All that Daryl had was Merle and all that Merle had was Daryl - well, Daryl and his drugs, anyway - and that sort of bond was something that Beth would never quite know because it would never just be her and one other person. Her family had never been that way; they had always been close, the lot of them - even Maggie, once - and Beth wasn't even sure whether she would really like it or not if it was just one other person and her.

There was a tiny little voice inside of her that was screaming out about how it wasn't just Daryl and Merle though. Not anymore. Now there was Daryl and there was Beth and she would always be there for him. Of course she knew that it would be very unlikely for her to be a shoulder to cry on for him, but she would always try her best to make sure that he knew that she was there if he needed any support.

Around her, Beth's fellow students began to pack up their belongings into their bags and push their chairs back and it took her a few seconds to realise that her tutor had stopped talking now and that she could begin to gather all of her things together, too.

As much as her mind wanted to ponder over the relationship between Daryl and Merle and what it might mean for her relationship now that Merle had returned, Beth pushed all of that away and hurried out of the classroom, running over in her head which lecture she was supposed to be attending next.

.

.

.

"Order up."

Not ever missing a beat, Beth leaned in towards the gap in the wall that allowed T-Dog to pass through the food to the waitresses, and Beth grinned at her favourite chef as she took the plate directly from his hands. Within half a second she was nodding her head at him and then turning around on her heel, walking off in the opposite direction at a quick pace, not giving him the opportunity to even open his mouth to warn her to be careful with the plate because it was hot.

After working in Carol's diner for as long as she had, Beth was completely unphased by the scolding temperature of the plate, and she carried it with ease over towards the customer who had been waiting for their order. Offering the young woman a dazzling smile and a quick check to see if there was anything at all that she needed help with, Beth brushed some hair behind her ears and whipped out her notepad from the back pocket of her jeans, making a beeline towards her newest customers.

It was right in the middle of the lunchtime rush and Beth found that, like always, she was surrounded by a random mix of very different customers; some elderly men and women who tended to order coffee's and tea's more than they ordered food, some people who were on their lunch break's from work and were therefore in a little bit more of a hurry than other's, and there were some students, too, who seemed to have finished up with their classes for the day because they were lounging around like it didn't really matter how long it took for their food to arrive.

This town was a small town and it was a town that Beth loved, too. It was also a town where everyone knew everyone; which, of course, had it's positives and it's negatives. But the lunchtime rush meant that all of that got thrown out of the window because during the lunchtime rush, Beth just could not be spending her time greeting everyone who she sort of recognised like they had been family friends all of her life and she also could not stand around chatting or making awkward small-talk with customer's.

In fact, absolutely everything to do with the lunchtime rush at Carol's diner was everything that this small town was not: fast paced. All that Beth (and all of the other people who were employed here) had time to focus on during this busy period was getting the right food and the right drinks to the right person, and taking away the right amount of money from them for their order, too. It wasn't just customer's that Beth couldn't find time to talk to, either, it was also her colleague's - who Beth had brely even blinked at (except for T-Dog, of course) since the very first few lunch orders had started to roll in.

When the bell that sat neatly above the entrance door of the diner chimed, Beth didn't even bother to look up in the direction of it to see who it was who had walked inside. Instead, Beth was far too preoccupied with taking down table eight's drink orders - _two large chocolate milkshakes with extra helpings of cream and one coke, no ice -_ to even be phased by the idea of new customer's. With a dazzling smile and a promise of returning in just a few minutes, Beth was rushing away into the kitchen and inhaling deeply before she got started on preparing the drinks.

Besides her, T-Dog was whistling as he flipped over some burgers, and despite the fact that it felt incredibly unnatural for Beth _not_ to have a conversation with someone, she bit down on her tongue and resisted the urge to start talking to the chef. Right now, she was incredibly busy - rushed right off her feet, in fact - and the last thing that she should be doing was talking to T-Dog as though she wasn't in any hurry at all and in turn leaving the customer's waiting even longer for their food orders.

Once the drinks were readily made, Beth gathered the three glasses up in her arms - balancing them in ways that only a practicing waitress knew how - and practically sprinted out of the kitchen, leaving the door to swing closed behind her.

And it was only as Beth scanned the whole of the diner to remind herself about who had ordered what that Beth noticed her boyfriend and his brother being led over to one of the booth's that was tucked away in a corner of the diner by none other than Carol.

The sight of Daryl Dixon making his way over towards one of the booth's in the diner that Beth Greene worked at was something that absolutely none of the other customer's in here would even blink an eye at. After all, it was well-known around town by now that the two of them were very much so together, and it was hardly a rare sight to see Beth waiting on her boyfriend in this very diner.

After all, it had been something that she had been doing before the two of them were ever even an actual thing, and that seemed to also be something that the other people in town knew of as well.

Carol was smiling as the two men sat themselves down in the booth and Beth couldn't help the rush of anger that flashed through her at the sight of Daryl setting foot in this place right now. Whilst everyone in town had made sure that it was their business to know that the two of them were together, Beth had always been relieved to know that nobody actually knew about the small details that came along with their relationship.

Small details such as the fact that Daryl Dixon had not bothered to even attempt to contact his girlfriend for the last four days.

No calls, no texts, no visits - no _nothing._

It had been as though he had vanished off the face of the earth, although Beth had known that he absolutely had not because every day that she went on her way to college, she passed the bakery and she saw either his bike or his truck parked up right outside of it. And every day that he ignored another one of her calls or another one of her text messages, the deflation and disappointment that Beth had originally felt bubbled into something more, and now she was just annoyed.

The thing was, it really did not matter just how much of a nice person Beth Greene was: she was most definitely _not_ a girl who chased around boys, especially not one she was supposed to be in a relationship with. Daryl's sudden change of behaviour would not have made any sense whatsoever had it not been for the bald man who was sat across from him in that very moment, and Beth's pride would not allow for her to reach out to him any more than she already had.

At the end of the day, if Daryl wanted to speak to her then he knew exactly where he could find her. It wasn't as though she had moved house or changed phone numbers, and she had already called him twice and messaged him three times during the last four days, so it wasn't as though he could think that she was trying to avoid him.

Beth had a feeling that Daryl Dixon knew that that would never happen, though.

Shaking her head (slightly to snap herself out of her thoughts that were very quickly wandering away and also slightly in disbelief about the fact that Daryl had actually had the balls to show up here knowing that she would most likely be working), Beth turned away from his direction and focused her attention back towards her waiting customers. Plastering a bright smile on her face that just didn't seem at all like _her,_ Beth placed the cold drinks down on the table in front of the customer's and made quick work of jotting down their food order's.

.

.

.

The constant rush of customer's in Carol's diner had honestly been a blessing for Beth that day and she had managed to not have to glance over in Daryl's direction, never mind give him much of a second thought. There had just been so much to do and so many people to serve and Beth didn't even have a minute to go to the toilet, never mind to worry about her boyfriend.

Since he had been seated in Carol's section of the diner it had also meant that Beth didn't even have to cross path's with him, although she could have sworn that she could feel his intense blue eyes watching her as she floated around from table to table, taking orders and bringing people their food. Depite the fact that out of the very corner of her eyes she could sometimes see Daryl watching her intently, Beth never even so much as tilted her head in his direction, acting the whole time as though she was completely unaware of his presence.

And perhaps it was childish and immature. Perhaps it was stupid and kind of pathetic.

But Beth Greene was too stubborn to just let this go.

When Daryl had left the diner with his brother in tow, Beth had let her shoulder's sag in relief and had shuddered out a breath that she didn't even realise she had been holding until it had escaped from her lips. It was then that the tension seeped from her body and made way for more emotions - confusion and heartbreak, disappointment and sadness, anger and bitterness - so that her mind could be taken up even more.

Beth figured it was about time that she caught a break.

Not literally, but it seemed as though Carol must have been a mind reader because the older woman seemed to appear out of nowhere and she was immediately insisting that Beth go and get herself home now that the lunchtime rush was over. In ways, it was difficult now that Carol had finally hired some extra staff because it meant that Beth's shifts were a lot shorter now that they all had to share, but at the same time it felt pretty good to just be able to come in for the busiest period of the day and then leave as soon as that was finished.

"Are you sure?" Beth asked, unable to hold back a smile as Carol nodded her head yes. Without waiting another minute, Beth rushed to grab her jacket and said her goodbye's to everyone, standing on her tiptoes to wave at T-Dog from where he was now relaxing in the kitchen before she exited the diner.

The very second that the fresh air hit her straight in the face and burned through her lungs, Beth's smile grew wider. Now that she was out of work her whole body felt as though it was much, much ligther; almost as though she was walking on air as she rummaged around in her handbag for her keys. Letting out a little whooping noise when she grabbed them, the blonde started pacing towards where her car was parked, checking her phone for any new calls or messages before she reached her vehicle.

A shriek escaped her lips when she bumped straight into Daryl Dixon.

He was leaning against the driver's side door of her car, a cigarrette hanging from his lips and his breathtaking blue eyes narrowed as he looked straight at her. There was something about the way that Daryl looked at her that always had Beth's heart thundering in her chest, and for a moment she was so shocked to see him there that all she did was stare straight back at him, her light blue eyes wide in surprise and her mouth hanging slightly open.

The surprise only lasted for a second though, and then it was taken over by anger. A frown came over her face and Beth straightened up her back, clutching the keys to her car tightly in her fist as though she was worried that Daryl might try to take them from her.

After an awkward couple of seconds of staring at each other, Daryl cleared his throat and stubbed out the cigarrette. "Hey," he grunted, nodding his head in her direction.

For what must have been the first time _ever,_ Beth completely ignored him.

"You okay?" he asked after a short breath of silence, and not wanting to verbally acknowledge the man who was leaning against her car, Beth just nodded her own head. "You sure?" Daryl probed, and before Beth snapped back at him, she couldn't help but think to herself that this was a lot more effort than he usually chose to make when it came to conversation with her.

"I'm sure," Beth responded through gritted teeth, clutching the keys impossibly tighter in her grip.

When he didn't make a move to push himself off from his car, Beth let out an impatient huff and relaxed her posture slightly. "Can you get off my car?" she asked him, her eyes never breaking away from his own. When Daryl still did not move from where he was standing, Beth fought the urge to roll her eyes and made a tiny step closer towards him. "Please?" she continued, exasperation evident in her tone.

It took a few more seconds after that, but finally Daryl was pushing himself up from where he had been leaning on her car and stepped to one side, allowing her to pass beside him and open up her door. For a short amount of time, the young blonde was actually relieved to be sat inside her vehicle and put her key in the ignition, excited about the prospect of getting home and having a nap.

That was until Daryl sat himself down in the passenger seat.

* * *

No matter how much of an idiot he was, Daryl Dixon was not stupid enough to believe that Beth didn't have every single reason and every single right to be pissed at him for going AWOL on her these last few days. It was the truth that the last thing that Daryl had ever intended to do was hurt her, but in the end that had been exactly what he had gone and done, and there was no way that he could change any of that now.

Goddamn, he was a dumbass. It was worse that he knew it, too.

The problem was that if Daryl was being honest and being realistic with himself, then he would admit that his time could have been split pretty evenly with everything. After all, Beth always managed a way to find the time to see him, and that girl sure as hell had a much busier schedule to life than he did. Somehow, the pretty blonde managed to juggle her classes and her assignments and her job and her family and him perfectly well, and there had never actually been a point in their relationship where Daryl had honestly felt as though Beth was neglecting him or putting him at the bottom of her list of priorities.

That had been exactly what he had gone and done to her, though. Put her right at the bottom of his list like he didn't give a flying fuck about her and now it wouldn't surprise him if Beth actually thought that Daryl didn't care about her at all.

It wasn't the case, though - that would _never_ be the case. Beth Greene meant more to Daryl than even he knew and he felt so shitty about the way in which this whole thing had played out between them. Things had been going so well and running so smoothly and sure, there had been a couple of hiccups but overall everything had been fine.

It wasn't fine now though, and it was all his fault.

But Daryl feeling sorry for himself and feeling shitty about making her feel shitty sure as hell didn't make anything better, and it certainly didn't make Beth feel any better, either.

This whole situation was just unchartered territory for Daryl - 'cause fuckin' hell, it wasn't like he was actually used to anyone caring enough about him to want to speak to him or want to see him or just want to know that he was alright, that he was safe and alive and feeling okay - but even though Daryl knew that his general inexperience with women and relationships wasn't a good excuse for this sort of behaviour, there really wasn't anything else that the baker could blame it on.

Part of him - a really fucked-up, selfish part - wished that he could blame even a tiny bit of this on Merle.

But he couldn't do that. This wasn't on anyone else; this was all on him, and Daryl didn't have the first clue about how to fix any of it.

.

.

.

The drive to his cabin was brief, but it was silent, too. What made it worse was that it wasn't one of those comfortable silences, either - the one's that he had ever so slowly been getting used to around her. No, this wasn't like that at all. Instead, this was one of those silences that had Daryl feeling more uncomfortable than he usually did, and part of him just wished that Beth would open her mouth and start screaming and shouting and generally lashing out on him, because her sitting there all quiet seemed to make things seem even worse than they already were.

When Beth pulled up outside of his cabin, Daryl was surprised to see that she didn't bother waiting around to unbuckle her belt or to step out of the car. Like with everything else in their relationship, the young blonde took the lead here and didn't even hesitate for half a second before she was standing outside of the vehicle, leaving Daryl to stare at the driver's side door as it slammed shut with a dumbfound expression on his face.

It took him a moment, but then he was snapping back into reality and was stepping out onto the grass himself, following closely behind Beth as she made her way up the creaky steps of the cabin.

The sound of Beth's car doors locking had Daryl overwhelmed with a sense of familiarity that he had actually genuinely missed a lot over these last four days, and although he had been used to feelings of regret in his thirty years, right now it seemed that those sort of feelings were more prominent than they ever had been before. It was difficult walking along this unknown territory with her, and it was strange to see Beth waiting for him to open up the door as opposed to just opening it up for herself.

It kind of hurt, too. Part of him wanted her to just bound straight in like she had never been shut out in the first place.

And maybe he was thinking too deeply into this shit.

"I can't stay late," Beth warned him as Daryl pushed open the front door to the cabin and held it open for her, watching as she made her way inside of the warm space first. It looked like there was something painful flashing across her face as she stepped across the threshold but it wasn't like Daryl was in any sort of position to start asking her questions.

Beth's pace was slow as though she was cautious as she stepped further into the cabin, and for a brief moment, Daryl wondered about whether she was just as nervous as he was about all of this.

"I've got some work to get done and I have a class early on tomorrow," she explained as she padded over towards the couch.

"I know," Daryl responded, the words falling quickly from his tongue before he had even really realised what it was that he was saying and he blushed as he closed the front door behind them both, not meeting her eyes from where she was looking over at him when he straightened himself up and followed her into the living room.

Not sure of what to do with his hands and with his mouth, Daryl awkwardly offered Beth a drink, but she shook her head no as she settled herself down on one of his couches. The blonde wrapped her arms around her waist as Daryl sat down on the couch across from her, knowing that she was watching him intently with her big doe eyes as he leaned back in the chair.

The baker refused to meet with her eyes as he toed off his boots and shrugged out of his leather vest but once he felt a little more at ease, Daryl finally allowed his gaze to meet with hers, and the baker was instantly flooded with feelings of guilt at the sight of Beth's sad and angered expression.

"I'm assumin' there's a reason as to why you've been avoidin' me like I've got the plague," Beth commented, her tone not giving anything away to him as she stared blankly in his direction. This icy attitude was so unlike her that it almost made him want to burst into tears because he was slowly starting to realise what it was that he was doing to this girl.

The lump in his throat seemed to have doubled in size in just seconds, but Daryl swallowed it down and shook his head from side to side.

"It ain't wha' you think, Beth," he managed to mutter out, feeling a little bit proud of himself for actually being able to hold her gaze despite the fact that he knew that his pathetic reasoning for all of this was shit.

No matter how much he wanted to avoid it, it seemed as though the truth was going to make its way out of him tonight, one way or another.

"Then what is it?" Beth said, her tone a little bit harsher than what he was used to and her big eyes now narrowed in doubt and frustration.

Shaking his head from side to side, Daryl wanted nothing more than to curl himself into a ball and hide away behind a shell, or to jump up onto his feet and sprint out of here just as quickly as he came inside. But there was something about the intensity of Beth Greene's gaze that had Daryl stuck in his seat, scrambling for words that he really didn't have as he tried his best to explain to her everything that had been going on inside of his head.

Everything that had been going on with _him._

It started when he cleared his throat and looked down at his nails. "My pa..." Daryl began, finding it much easier to speak now that he wasn't actually looking at her. "He died. Couple 'a days ago. Well, I reckon' that was when it was, anyway. Merle found him, but neither of us have seen him in a while, an'..."

The words hadn't come out smoothly - they were stuttered and broken, some loud and some muttered - and Daryl had been staring down at his hands so fiercly that he hadn't even noticed Beth shifting beside him and making her way over to him. The couch dipped underneath her weight and despite the fact that he desperately wanted to continue on with his explanation, her soft hands were cupping his face and tilting his chin up so that his deep blue eyes were locking with her much lighter ones before he could even blink.

His lower lip was trembling but Daryl wasn't crying when Beth leaned in and pressed her lips to his own in a soft and gentle kiss. When she pulled away from him, Beth moved backwards and moved one of her hands down to his bicep, giving it a firm squeeze.

"I'm so sorry, Daryl," she said, her thumb trailing over his cheek with the hand that was still cradling his face. "I had no idea."

From where he sat beside her, Daryl shook his head back and forth. "It ain't jus' that, Beth," he croaked out after a short while of silence. "Shit. There's a fuckin' boat load more."

As she gazed up at him Beth just nodded her head gently, seeming to understand that this wasn't all that Daryl had to say on the matter. But it was evident that she wasn't in any sort of rush to get the information out of him and for not being pushy with all of this, Daryl was relieved.

Her listening to him like this... god, it was so much more than he deserved after the way he had treated her, but it was _something,_ and Daryl knew in that moment that it didn't matter how hard it was for him to get the words out anymore. More than anything, Beth Greene deserved the truth about him and his life and his scars.

It was time for him to come clean.


	25. Chapter 25

**Sorry if this has been confusing but I wasn't as happy with the chapter I just posted as I am with this one so I just wanted to change it. Please forget about the last chapter I posted and read this one instead! It's an extra two and a half thousand words longer so I hope that you enjoy it. I've not actually read it back or edited any of it yet so please ignore any silly mistakes, too.**

* * *

The news about the death of Daryl's father had come as an immediate shock to Beth.

In her defence, the young blonde had never actually even heard Daryl mention any of his relatives before, apart from his older brother, of course. Given the fact that the two of them had been born and raised in such a small town it was only normal that Beth had certainly heard of the infamous Will Dixon, but she had never actually met the man before, and considering the fact that Daryl had never mentioned him then she just assumed that there was some sort of underlying issue there.

Something that she wasn't ready to pry into - at least not just yet, anyway. Unknown territory over a boarder that she didn't know whether or not she should cross and given the rocky relationship that Daryl had with Merle then she could only imagine the sort of relationship that he had with his father.

Besides, even if Beth didn't know anything about Will Dixon then she still would have probably been safe to assume that the baker had not been close with his father. After all, if he had been then surely she would have at least heard Daryl mention even just his name in passing by now - the two had been together for a good couple of months - and she thought that it wouldn't have taken quite some time for one of the Dixon brother's to find the body, either.

But _still,_ whether or not the older man was close to his father or not was definitely not the point here. It was more than evident to Beth that this was an issue that had clearly been bothering Daryl, especially considering the way in which he had pulled away from her over the course of the last few days.

Immediately, Beth felt consumed with guilt for being cruel and ignoring Daryl when he had visited the diner with Merle, and it broke her heart to think that this man had felt as though he couldn't speak to her about something like this.

Now that he had brought it up to her, though, Beth found that she honestly did not have the slightest clue over what to say to him. It was difficult to sense whether or not Daryl wanted comfort or whether he wanted her to back off from him and leave him to it, but the fact that he had even mentioned it at all hinted to the blonde that he at least wanted to talk about it in one way or another.

As part of the training for Beth's social work degree, there had been lots and lots of workshops offered to her that she had attended over the past two and a half years, and several of those had honed in on the topics of bereavement and loss. The classes had covered the different ways in which these sorts of issues can affect different individual's and also the ways that you could talk to someone who was currently going through something of that nature.

All of those techniques that she had learnt over her training just seemed to slip away though now; part of which Beth thought was because of the fact that this was something that had really been sprung on her without much warning, and because of the fact that she was not currently in a work setting. Hearing about something like this happen to Daryl made it all seem much more personal and the last thing that was on her mind was the different clinical ways in which Beth could help Daryl to deal with this issue.

Beside her on the couch, Daryl sat with his head in his hands as he fisted at his long dark hair, his brilliant blue eyes squeezed shut as he seemed to struggle over what to say. Visibly swallowing, Beth shuffled slightly closer towards Daryl and squeezed his bicep gently, hoping that the gesture was somewhat comforting or reassuring to him.

"You don't have to tell me anything at all, Daryl," Beth said, her voice quiet and soft and slow. "Nothin' that you don't want to."

After a long few seconds of complete and utter silence - it wasn't even possible to hear either of them breathe, their movements were so quiet - Beth relaxed slightly at the sight of Daryl's eyes opening. At first, he just focused on the floor beneath him for a brief moment of time before he eventually straightened his upper body and inhaled a long and deep breath, looking straight in Beth's direction as he did so.

The sight of his dark blue eyes on hers had Beth's heart pounding against her chest, and despite the serious atmosphere that this topic of conversation had caused, the pretty blonde couldn't help but wonder to herself how even after all of these months this man still had such a huge affect on her.

Shaking his head from left to right several times, Daryl spoke up. His voice was thick and heavy with emotion; rougher than it usually was - as though he was in desperate need of clearing his throat - but it was quiet all the same. "Nah," Daryl said, worrying his lower lip with his teeth for a split second. "I... I _wanna._ I do. S'just..."

"Difficult," Beth offered when she noticed that Daryl seemed to be struggling for the right choice of word to describe how it was that he felt. The older man didn't offer her much except for a single nod of his head in confirmation; the awkwardness and the nervousness that he felt over all of this more than evident in his stiff and closed-up movements.

There was a part of Beth - a huge, overwhelming part of her that burned straight through her chest - that wanted nothing more than to cradle Daryl as closely as she possibly could to her chest; to hold him tightly in her arms and to comfort him. To whisper words of reassurance down his ear whilst she ran her hands through his dark hair, to kiss his forehead and his temple and to murmur to him over and over again about how everything was all going to be alright in the end.

About how _he_ was going to be alright, too.

As much as she wanted to do that, though, Beth fought her hardest to resist those slightly maternal urges. The only sign of her wanting to make any sort of movement at all was noticeable from the way in which her slender fingers twitched just so from where they were still resting on his large bicep, but Beth made no other movement towards the baker.

For a reason that she just could not quite put into words or even properly understand herself, Beth seemed to get the sense that cuddling and cradling and comforting this man was not the response that he needed right now - whether she wanted it to be or not.

But at the same time; Beth found that she could not find it within herself to actively push Daryl towards what it was that she thought that he needed to do - _talk._ As far as Beth was concerned, there was absolutely no possible way that she could bring herself to almost _force_ Daryl down that path, and silently she decided that the two of them would move at his pace and not anybody else's. It was not for Beth to meddle or to intervene with this situation; all that she wanted to do was to be there for Daryl, and if he really wanted to tell her what it was that was playing on his mind, then she hoped that he knew that he could most definitely do so.

After just a little bit longer of the two of them sitting in silence, Daryl let out another sigh before he practically jumped to his feet, shaking his head from side to side as he did so. Beth was immediately surprised by the baker's sudden movements and her light blue eyes widened dramatically, her hand - the one that had been resting on Daryl's arm - now hanging aimlessly in the middle of the air.

Beth glanced at it, somewhat bemused, before she slowly moved it so that it was resting by her side.

"Never been all that good with words," Daryl grunted out as he stood before Beth in the middle of his living room, shrugging off his vest from his shoulders in a hurried and messy motion. Frozen to the spot, Beth couldn't help but watch him as he moved, feeling all sorts of uncertain about where Daryl was going with all of this. "But... I can, can _show_ you, I reckon'."

Almost sceptically (although that was not how she intended to be), Beth cocked one of her eyebrows as she gazed up at Daryl. "You can?" she questioned, confusion evident in her tone and her expression as she curiously waited to see what his intentions were with all of this.

Nodding his head once, Daryl closed his eyes and took in a long, deep breath before his hands - that were noticeably shaking - moved to the bottom of his shirt. In one swift motion he had tugged the fabric off and pulled it over his head, discarding it on the floor of the living room without even a second glance. Daryl shuffled on his feet ever so slightly as he stood shirtless before her; and the whole time, Beth just stayed completely still, the only movement coming from her being the blinking of her eyes.

This man was completely throwing her off with all of this sudden and almost bold behaviour that was just so unlike him and not for the first time, he really was rendering her speechless.

When Daryl finally lifted his gaze so that their eyes locked, the look on his face was completely unreadable. The way that he was staring back down at her was incredibly intense and once again Beth's heart beat accelerated in her chest. For what felt as though it could have easily been forever, the two of them did not even flinch, and it was Daryl who made the first move.

His posture had been stiff and rigid and Beth only really noticed it as his shoulders sagged when he let out a shaky breath. Slowly, Daryl turned himself around - avoiding eye contact with her the whole time - so that he wasn't facing Beth any more, and Beth felt so _stupid_ when she realised what it was that he was showing her.

How could she have been so blind this whole time?

.

.

.

It wasn't much later that Beth's legs moved almost on auto-pilot and took her so that she was standing behind Daryl, and then it was only half a second or so before her trembling hand raised up as she ran her fingers over one of the deeper scars that sat in the middle of his back. Even though Daryl was hunched over, he was still so much taller than her and Beth swallowed nervously when she found that the scar felt much smoother than she imagined that it would be upon first glance; but it was still slightly rough all the same, and still very dark in colour.

The blonde was completely overwhelmed with emotion as her hands nervously roamed over the bare flesh of Daryl's marked back and as much as Beth desperately wanted to say _something_ to him, she found that no matter how many times she opened and closed her mouth, she just couldn't. The words would not come and they would not fall from her tongue and her heart felt so heavy as she guessed the answers to questions that she might never voice out loud to him.

And it still didn't clear much up for her.

And it still didn't all make perfect sense.

And Beth was anything but sure about whether or not she should completely forget about the way in which Daryl ran away from her so easily.

But knowing that this was not the time to think about those sorts of things, Beth found herself focusing on _now;_ on what was happening between them both right in this very second, not what happened before. Beth blocked out all of the noise from the rest of her over-active mind and instead concentrated on the way that her hands were ghosting over Daryl's back for the first time in her life, and even though she tried her best not to think too much about anything, Beth couldn't help but wonder to herself about how she had never even put much thought into the fact that Daryl had always refused to take his shirt off in front of her before.

Being observant and picking up on the little things that other's might not were things that Beth thought that she was good at, but clearly this had all gone straight over her head for quite some time (how long had they been together again?) and if Beth couldn't even pick up on something like _this_ then how on earth was she ever supposed to be expected to help children who might be suffering from something slightly similar or -

"I dunno what t'say here, Beth," Daryl murmured; his gravelly voice breaking the silence that had stretched on and on between them for far longer than either had even felt comfortable with, breaking Beth from her thoughts and snapping her back to reality once more.

If she felt nervous and confused and uncertain and anxious, then Beth couldn't even begin to imagine how it was that Daryl felt right now. Despite everything that was swirling around in her head, Beth knew that this was something that had been so very _brave_ of him to do and her heart suddenly sank for this beautiful and broken man.

Without waiting another second, Beth dropped her hand from his back and instead practically threw herself around him with enough force to knock him ever so slightly. Daryl didn't stumble, though; not as her arms wrapped around his middle and her cheek pressed against the naked skin of his back and Beth found herself squeezing him as tightly as she possibly could.

The embrace reminded her of the one that she had given him in the kitchen that time; the time after Merle had visited and caused a lot of trouble and stirred up things in Daryl's mind that had taken some time to settle, but it still felt much more different, too. That had been such an intimate moment in itself but this was most definitely even more so and although Beth had struggled over what to say to Daryl since he first removed his shirt and showed her his scars, she now suddenly found that there were some words that she could say to him that would fit in this moment.

And maybe telling Daryl that she loved him right now was not the right thing to do. Maybe it was something that she would regret when she looked back on it; something that she wished that she would have said at another moment in time, one where it seemed a lot more genuine, not like she was saying it just for the sake of having something to say to him.

But there was a part of her that honestly believed that he needed to know how she felt right _now_ and if she waited another second longer then it would be too late. So without over-thinking it too much, Beth found herself breathing out a soft "I love you," her tone as genuine as it possibly could be.

And her voice had been quiet but Beth knew that Daryl had heard her because she felt the way that his body trembled and she heard the strangled sob break out from his lips and there was a part of her that wondered about whether he had ever had anybody say something like that to him before in his whole life. Whilst Daryl didn't return the words to her, Beth didn't let herself feel disappointed - instead she continued to hold him around his middle, her cheek still pressed firmly against the heated skin of his back as she listened to him cry, hoping that she could hold him up enough for him to finally believe that he could really let her in.

* * *

It had never really been in his plan to show the marks that his father had permanently left on his back in his whole life; but there had been a point - he wasn't sure when it was exactly, but he knows that there had most definitely been a point - when his relationship with Beth had shifted, when something had clicked inside of his mind and he had known that he would show her one day. It wasn't even a case of _having_ to, it was more a case of wanting to.

Daryl knew that he had a tough outer shell and that he had a lot of strongly built walls around himself, but being with Beth encouraged him to break those down. It wasn't as though it had been an easy ride 'cause hell, he was damaged and fucked up and he didn't have a clue where to even begin when it came to the emotional side of things.

But he trusted her enough to be able to let her in, and he was pretty sure that showing her the marks on his back wouldn't push her away. If his shitty attitude and his emotional stuntedness wasn't enough to send this girl running then really, what would?

In the end, it had been Rick who had encouraged him to open up to Beth about everything. It wasn't as though Rick had ever seen Daryl's back but the sheriff knew enough and had probably guessed enough, too, and it had been the reassuring words from his best friend that had guided him towards his actions tonight.

 _"She ain't just gonna leave ya,"_ Rick had said. It used to worry Daryl that the sheriff just seemed to know exactly what he was thinking, even when he had never even hinted towards those sorts of thoughts, but it was something that he had grown to expect nowadays. _"You jus' gotta be straight with her, Daryl. From what you've told me, Beth Greene sure as hell ain't the type o' girl who's jus' gonna run when things get tough."_

And yeah - Rick had been right. Not like there was anything really new there, if Daryl was being honest with himself, because Rick usually gave him pretty good advice and he wasn't going to deny that.

But now Daryl was way out of any sort of familiar territory because somehow, the two of them had gone from him crying and her comforting him to him hoisting her up in his arms and having her tongue battling with his whilst he carried her into his room. Some time had passed since Beth had first brought them back to the cabin and it was dark outside now and without the light on, Daryl could barely even see anything in the room, so once he had plopped Beth on her back on the bed, he moved to flick on the lamp that rested on his bedside table.

As Daryl hovered directly over her, he suddenly felt overwhelmed with emotions that he couldn't quite put his finger on once again. This girl was forever stirring up all sorts of shit inside of him and despite the fact that Daryl Dixon did not consider himself to be anything like a poetic person or an incredibly deep thinker, he couldn't help but feel awe struck as she lay beneath him.

Beth's long blonde hair had fallen around her and was spread over the pillow, her light blue eyes wide as she stared up at him. A soft smile lit up her face and almost as if she knew that he was stuck here - stuck because he didn't have a fucking clue what he was supposed to do next - she reached both of her hands up to cup both sides of his face and then she leaned up ever so slightly, arching her back so that her face was close to his and then she pressed a chaste kiss to his lips.

That chaste kiss didn't last all that long though, and in the blink of an eye Beth was moving her hands to the back of Daryl's head and fisting through his hair as she practically yanked him down to her level. For a moment Daryl thought that his weight might crush her ('cause _god,_ his girl was tiny) but Beth was stronger than she looked and was completely unphased. In fact, she seemed to actually _enjoy_ it ('cause yeah, his girl was a little strange sometimes, too) and she moaned into his mouth as she pushed herself harder up against him.

Having sex with Beth Greene had definitely not been what Daryl had expected or intended to do that night; but as she pushed at him and ground her core against his erection, Daryl couldn't help but understand that this was what she wanted right now. And there had always been one hundred excuses inside of his mind that he could use to tell Beth no but right now, he couldn't remember any of them.

Perhaps this had been something that was almost inevitable; ever since the very first time that the two of them met, ever since that time that felt like years ago when Beth would just be a waitress who served him his breakfast every morning. Ever since that very first time that the two of them had gone to the carnival and rode on that Ferris wheel and ever since he had won her that damned teddy, ever since the first time that he had met her parents and that she had met Merle. Everything had been building up between them for quite some time and there was a strange part of Daryl that actually didn't want any of that to end.

It couldn't build up forever, though. There had to be an ending in sight, a point that the two of them could finally reach so that they weren't just sinking or swimming.

Right now, it felt like he was fuckin' _drowning,_ but he relished in the feeling.

Somehow his lips had ended up ripping away from hers and they were peppering kisses down the column of her pale throat. It was something that Beth obviously liked as she arched herself impossibly closer to him and then all of a sudden her hands were resting on his shoulders and she was pushing him backwards, pushing him away from her -

\- so that she could pull off her top, and then that moment of panic slipped away and Daryl calmed himself down. That split second of feeling her pushing him from her had been horrific but now she was tugging him closer once more and Beth wasn't wearing a bra, either; something that Daryl had _somehow_ missed. Before he could stop himself, both of his hands were palming at her breasts and now he was grinding himself harder against her in a way that was almost painful.

It wasn't painful, though.

Not at all.

Her jeans were the next thing to go and then it was his, and whilst she tugged them down his thighs along with his boxers, Daryl wondered about whether or not this was something that could have only ever happened once he came clean to her and showed her those scars on his back. It wasn't as though he was a virgin too but sex with someone else had never been _anything_ at all like this was right now.

Maybe it would have always been that Daryl Dixon would have never have slept with Beth Greene until all of his dirty laundry was aired out and granted, there were still lots of things about him that Beth didn't know - hell, he hadn't even told her about how he had gotten those scars on his back because he hadn't been able to find the words and then he had gone and fucking _cried_ about it - but now that she had actually _seen_ him like that, so vulnerable and weak, and still wanted him... It just made Daryl sure that he couldn't put this off between the two of them any longer.

'Cause _dammit_ , he fucking wanted her, too.

This definitely did not feel wrong or like something that he should or would regret in the morning as Daryl lined himself up at her entrance. All of the emotions had clearly gone straight to his head because he didn't even bother to try and find a condom or ask Beth if she was on any sort of contraception but right then, right in that moment, he honestly didn't give a shit. Of course it was irresponsible and something that he might kick himself for later but the last thing that was on his mind was asking Beth whether he should stop and go get some rubbers and he had a feeling that it would just ruin the moment, anyway.

There had been absolutely no foreplay between them (unless you counted the grinding, which he didn't) but Beth was wet to the point where it had Daryl questioning whether they had actually done something and he hadn't remembered because how could this girl be so soaked from practically nothing?

Considering the fact that he was equally rock hard Daryl just shrugged it off, taking it as some sort of sign that Beth wanted this just as much as he did and all it took from her was a single nod of her head and her hands resting against his shoulders and then Daryl was pushing himself inside of her. As much as he wanted to look anywhere else - because _fuck,_ looking into her eyes as he entered her for the first time was _intense_ \- he couldn't tear his own deep blue eyes away from her much lighter ones, and even in the barely lit space of the room, Daryl could see her eyes twinkling as he moved further inside.

His pace was slow because even though he had never actually been with a virgin before, Daryl figured that it would hurt. A lot. But then he remembered that his girl was _tough_ and she was _strong_ and he didn't even question it when she didn't make any sort of pained noise, didn't even question it when all that she did was bite down on her lower lip when he pushed past her barrier and when all that Beth did was let out a tiny whimper when he was fully inside of her.

And she felt good.

Real good.

Better than Daryl had ever imagined in all of the dreams that he had ever had about this moment.

The moan fell out of his lips before he could hold it back and from where she was pinned beneath him, Beth let out a tiny giggle. Unable to stop himself, Daryl circled his hips slightly to try and get her to stop - stop because she was teasing him and making the very tips of his ears burn red, just like she used to do all of the damned time - and stop she did. That light little giggle quickly turned into a moan and her actions were suddenly quick and rushed as she pulled Daryl tightly against her once more.

His lips met with hers and as they kissed - not necessarily lazy kisses, but more slow and passionate ones - Daryl got himself into a rhythm of pushing and pulling and thrusting himself inside of where she was wet and hot and tight and it wasn't long before he knew that his orgasm was approaching. Daryl went to move his hand from where both of them were resting flat against the pillow on either side of Beth's head so that he could bring it down to her clit and flick his fingers against it in the hope of sending her to her own release, but Beth stopped him with a gentle yet firm grip around his palm and instead moved her hands so that their fingers were intertwined.

It hadn't been what Daryl had been intending to do, but it was _nice_ all the same.

"I love you," Beth breathed out, her voice slightly hitched as she panted, her hips rolling and rocking in an attempt to meet with his for every thrust and it may have been their first time but the girl was determined to keep up with him. As those three words fell out of Beth's mouth again and again and again Daryl wished it upon himself to just get the courage to actually say it back to her - because _fuck,_ he really did love this girl, didn't he? - but he knew that right now, he just wasn't ready to admit it.

They fell from her lips _again_ and when he spilled himself inside of her Beth locked their lips so that they were kissing once more and Daryl grunted into her mouth, his legs shaking slightly from the intensity of it all and his eyes finally closing shut as he found his own release.

And if having sex without a condom had been careless then cumming inside of her had been fucking _reckless_ but right there and then, Daryl just did not care.

Beth obviously didn't, either.

Some time afterwards, when both of their breathing was no longer erratic and when they could actually move, Daryl rolled himself off from Beth and flopped on his back beside her, his head falling against the pillow and his eyes staring up at the ceiling. In one swift motion Beth moved herself so that her head was resting against Daryl's chest and she snuggled against him, one of her arms wrapping around his middle and one of her legs hoisting up so that it was almost over his hip.

And it was too hot and too sticky and sweaty in the bedroom and he had just came inside of her when he probably should have at least pulled out and he didn't even know if Beth was supposed to be working in the morning.

And there was probably blood spilled all over the bedsheets from where Beth's hymen had been ripped and it was pretty late and neither of them had even eaten or had anything to drink, either. And he wanted to let Rosita or Abraham know that there wasn't a chance in hell he would be helping them open in the morning because he wanted to spend every possible minute that he could with this girl - _his_ girl.

But instead of even worrying about any of that, Daryl just wrapped one of his arms around her shoulders and squeezed her even tighter towards him before he rested his chin against the top of her head.

Those three words that Beth had said to him before were on the tip of his tongue, ready to slip off, but he just couldn't get them out. But in that moment, he liked the way that this felt - liked the way that he felt so damned _clean_ now that he had shared everything with her, now that he had shown her his past and his present and now that they had been connected as one.

So Daryl Dixon knew that he absolutely did love Beth Greene but in that moment, all that he could do was lean over and switch off the light before he closed his eyes and fell asleep with her wrapped all around him.

So maybe he could tell Beth how he felt about her tomorrow.

But not today.

Not right now.

* * *

 **Sorry that Daryl's POV was so much shorter than Beth's - I just wanted to get this chapter out to you all as it's been a little while since I've posted anything this week.**

 **As always, thank you so much for reading :-)!**


	26. Chapter 26

Waking up to find that her body was curled around Daryl Dixon's was something that, over time, Beth had found herself growing accustomed to. Sleeping and waking up beside the man that she loved was something that Beth obviously loved doing, of course, but it was also just something that she had naturally become used to as well.

Despite the fact that Beth Greene was absolutely sure that she loved this man with all of her heart - that she loved this man more than she had ever loved anyone else before - it didn't necessarily mean that she still got breathless or inexplicably overwhelmed with emotion every single time that her light blue eyes fluttered open to find that during the night, the two of them had become much more than just slightly tangled up with one another. There were times when it seemed as though there was no real sign as to where Beth ended and Daryl started and those were the morning's that she loved the most.

The first time that Beth had ever woken up beside Daryl, her reaction had been very much one of some sort of love-stricken teenager. And even the next few times after that had seemed to be like something out of one of her old romance novel's - all sweet smiles and aching hearts and tender touches. But now, it was just something that seemed to be very... _normal_ for them. It was something that happened time and time again and over time it became something that Beth - and probably Daryl - just got used to.

And of course that didn't mean that Beth didn't necessarily enjoy waking up beside her partner; but it just meant that after a little while, she had become used to just being around Daryl - which also included going to sleep at night and waking up in the morning beside him, too.

This morning when she woke up, though - well, it was _different._ A good different, but a different nonetheless.

This morning - regardless of the fact that her body was exhausted and drained from their activities the night before - Beth was immediately taken straight back to the joyous way in which she had felt that very first time that she had ever spent the night tucked up in bed with Daryl beside her. When she awoke, there was a small but very present smile resting on her face, and the blonde had absolutely no doubt that her lips had been curling upwards for the entire time that she had been asleep.

As her light blue eyes blinked and squinted a few times until they were able to adjust to handling the bright light that was coming in to Daryl's bedroom through his curtains, Beth suddenly felt like bursting out into loud and girlish laughter from how genuinely _happy_ she felt in that moment. Her happiness was overwhelmingly strong and Beth wished that there was another word that she could use to describe such an amazing emotion.

However, before the blonde could actually burst into loud laughter, she stopped herself from behaving like such a typical teenage girl (reminding herself that she most definitely was not one of those any longer) and instead she focused on how strange it would probably seem to Daryl for him to wake up to the sound of her filling his bedroom with her laughter for no apparent reason.

If anything, Daryl would probably think that she had gone and lost her mind. It wouldn't be as if Beth could blame him for thinking like that when she was behaving like this.

Goodness - maybe she actually _had_ lost her mind.

Because this morning really did just feel a lot like that very first time that she had ever woken up after spending the night with Daryl Dixon; only the thing about this time was the fact that actually, it felt a lot, _lot_ better than it ever had done before. Which was probably due to the fact that she really _had_ spent the night with Daryl - literally - and she felt even better for it now.

Because this morning really did feel a lot like that very first time that she had ever woken up after spending the night with Daryl Dixon, only the thing about this time was the fact that actually, it felt a lot, _lot_ better - probably because of the fact that she really had _spent the night_ with him. Literally.

The dull and throbbing ache between her thighs served as a reminder to the way in which she had not-so-innocently connected herself to Daryl last night; but no matter how heated anything between the two of them had actually got, it had very much seemed as though it was the most natural and the most beautiful thing in the world to do.

Perhaps her daddy and the local priest Father Gabriel might not share her opinion on the matter, but in her mind, Beth realised just how suddenly everything had clicked right into place between her and Daryl. It didn't matter to her about whether or not anyone else agreed with her on this, either; it had never really bothered Beth whether or not anyone agreed with her on anything, but this was different.

She was in love with Daryl Dixon and she had just made love to him last night.

Well, if she was being honest about it, it was more like Daryl who made love to her because despite the fact that the baker had obviously not had a bucket load of experience when it came to matters of anything to do with the opposite sex (including sexual things), he still had a lot more experience than Beth did. So the night before, it had been him who had taken control between the two of them - something that wasn't necessarily common, but something that had been nice.

Actually, it had been a lot better than nice, but Beth still wasn't all that sure about how she was supposed to describe the emotions that she had felt the night before. As her sleepy imagination drifted off, she recalled the way in which his warm and heavy body had felt resting over hers; the way in which he had slowly inched himself inside of her all the way to the hilt, the noises that he had made when he had first entered her and then as he came, the facial expressions that he had pulled as he lost himself inside of her...

The thought of everything that had gone on between the two of them the night before caused Beth to begin to throb in a way that wasn't at all painful, but she stretched her naked body out on the double bed in an attempt to distract herself before she was pushed over the edge just by her memories. Arching her back in a very cat-like manner, Beth let out a yawn before she turned herself around and curled back around Daryl's body.

He was still naked, too - the first time that they had ever been this way - and from where she was placed with her head on his firm chest, Beth could feel the way in which his body was beginning to stir awake beneath her.

Despite the fact that Beth was more than happy waiting in bed for Daryl to wake up too; it turned out that she didn't have to wait much longer at all, and after just a few more minutes Daryl was letting out a muffled groan before he slowly opened his deep blue eyes. From where she had been resting on his chest, Beth still the motions of her fingers - which had been absently toying with the dark dusting of hair on his chest - and then she moved her hand so that the palm of it was resting flat against him.

In one quick and swift motion, Beth turned her head so that her chin was resting on top of her knuckles and she smiled straight up at Daryl, her light blue eyes practically twinkling as she stared right up at him.

"Good morning," Beth breathed out to him, her gentle smile never faltering as she blinked up at him. With a yawn, Daryl re-positioned himself so that both of his arms were tucked under his head and he shuffled backwards slightly so that his bare back was pressed against the headboard of the bed.

The metal of the headboard must have been cool against his heated skin but Daryl never shuddered or even seemed to be remotely uncomfortable at the contact and Beth's smile widened slightly at that. It probably seemed so stupid to anyone else, but the young blonde couldn't help but think to herself about how she loved the fact that Daryl was so _manly._

And suddenly, she was overcome with the urge to burst into a fit of giggles once again.

"Mornin'," Daryl replied, moving one of his arms now so that he could rub at his eyes before he shifted it back behind his head again, letting out a long and heavy - but something that sounded like it was very close to being _content_ \- sigh.

It was then that Beth realised that right now - right here, right in this very moment of time - this was the most comfortable that the two of them had ever really seemed to have been around one another.

"You sleep alright?" Daryl asked her then after a few more seconds of silence, breaking Beth from her thoughts once more. The blonde had a terrible habit of daydreaming but Daryl never seemed to think much of it or mind it at all - and if he did, he never said anything or hinted towards feeling that way.

Nodding her head up and down in response to his question, Beth let out a soft and sleepy sigh of her own. "Did you?" she asked, smiling sweetly.

Shrugging his shoulders, Daryl let out a sound that was something close to a chuckle before a playful smirk graced his own lips. "Didn' sleep too bad," he told her, and there was something about his teasing tone that had Beth blushing a deep shade of red and giggling into his chest like the school girl that she had desperately been trying not to be.

.

.

.

Ever since her two siblings had returned to their homes in the city, things had been much, much quieter and much more peaceful around the farm. Everything seemed as though it had returned to 'normal', so to speak, and it was a huge relief for Beth. It wasn't as though the blonde didn't miss having both Maggie and Shawn around the farm because she most definitely did, but at the same time, just having it being only her and her parents living in the farmhouse made life a lot more simple and a lot easier, too.

Despite her older sister's unwanted opinion on the whole matter of her and Daryl, both her mama and her daddy were more than accepting of her boyfriend, and Beth was extremely grateful for her parent's support when it came to her relationship. It wasn't as though Daryl was necessarily used to coming round to the farmhouse, but the baker was definitely seeming to be a lot more relaxed in little ways that (most likely) only Beth noticed because she was actively looking for clues as to whether or not he was comfortable in her home.

Things like the way in which Daryl's shoulders were nowhere near as tense as they used to be and the way in which he could finally hold eye contact with Hershel or Annette whenever they were speaking - not just to him, but to all of them at the table - hinted to Beth that Daryl was feeling a little more at ease every time that he visited. Even though it was only a small victory for Beth, it was still a victory nonetheless, and she was determined to celebrate it.

Daryl had joined them all for Sunday lunch as he had been doing for the last few Sunday's now, and this week it was Beth's turn to wash the dishes once the meal was finished. There had been a part of her that had just expected Daryl to follow her daddy straight into the living room, but there was another part of her that was completely unsurprised when he moved to stand beside her, nudging her slightly with his hip as he grabbed a dish cloth and began to dry the plates that she had just cleaned.

"It's Halloween next week," Beth commented as nonchalantly as she possibly could whilst she passed over one of the last few dishes that had been soaking in the kitchen sink. Once again, Beth was completely unsurprised when Daryl just grunted beside her; but over time she was beginning to understand that this wasn't him being ignorant towards her, this was him waiting for her to continue on with where she was wanting to take this before he said anything on the matter.

"Will you come out with me?"

Once upon a time, asking Daryl Dixon a question like that would have been deemed damn near impossible - at least for her, anyway. It wasn't as though Beth was a necessarily shy person but she wasn't overly confident, either - especially not around _him,_ when she always seemed to stutter over her words and blush furiously at every little thing - and it had taken some time for her to build up enough courage to start being so _bold_ and blunt towards Daryl.

Now that she actually could bring herself to behave this way around him, though, Beth was wondering what she had ever been worried about in the first place.

"Out where?" Daryl asked her, frowning slightly in confusion as he dried off one of the last dishes.

 _At least that's not a straight-up **no,**_ Beth thought to herself.

The blonde pulled out the plug from the kitchen and water began to drain out of it, leaving an array of bubbles from the washing up liquid she had used littered around the slides of it. Slowly, with one of her hands still resting in the warm water that was slipping out of the sink, Beth turned her head so that she was once again facing in Daryl's direction and she offered him a coy smile.

"Anywhere," she said with a shrug of her shoulders, feeling more than just a little bit sheepish for not thinking this whole thing through properly. It wasn't like her to not have a plan in place, but she had worked herself up so much about the idea of just asking him to come out with her that she now found that she had no idea what she even wanted to do with him. "Some of the girls from college are goin' out in the city..."

"Why don't you go out with them?" Daryl asked her.

His tone was softer than usual, but it still mostly hinted towards his confusion; and even though his words could have been misinterpreted under different circumstances, Beth could tell from his face that Daryl wasn't intentionally trying to offend her with his words.

Over time, Beth had began to pick up on the fact that Daryl was a lot more insecure in himself than he ever really let on and this was more a case of him genuinely wondering why the hell Beth would want to be going out with him and not her friends as opposed to him just wanting to brush her off and send her out with the girls.

Shrugging her shoulders again, Beth turned her attention back to the sink - which was now empty - and quickly ran the tap over the bubbled edges of it, washing everything away so that the sink was practically sparkling clean. "They're all taking their own boyfriends, too," Beth explained, turning off the tap once again. "I wouldn't want to go there on my own."

From where he stood beside her, Daryl was completely silent and after a few seconds, Beth raised her light blue eyes to meet with his. The way that he was looking at her had Beth wanting to shiver from the intensity of his gaze but she didn't and instead stayed strong, keeping her eyes locked on Daryl's.

After what felt like hours and hours of Daryl looking at her in a way that had Beth questioning whether or not he was literally trying to look straight through to her soul, he stiffly nodded his head as a form of response to her question.

The two of them hadn't been together for all that long, really - just a couple of months now - but Beth felt as though she was learning how to read Daryl Dixon a lot better than she had been able to do so before. There were times when she felt as though she could press him to use his words and then there were times when she couldn't and deep in her stomach, Beth felt like this was definitely not one of those times.

It wasn't as though Beth ever went out of her way to make Daryl feel uncomfortable or to push him too hard but there were some times when she felt as though she was doing exactly that and so for now, she allowed herself to just accept his response. A nod from Daryl was a positive answer to her question and even though he hadn't jumped at the chance to dress up with her and take her out for Halloween, Beth knew better than to take it personally. It was just another thing that Daryl had probably never done in his life and here was Beth Greene, the tiny little thing that she was, pushing him out of his comfort zone and encouraging him to do all sorts of things with her that he had never done before.

It never seemed like Daryl resented her for it or didn't like her doing it, though. There were some times when she actually thought that he might be glad for her being the way that she was and if he wasn't, well, why on earth was he even with her? It wasn't as though anyone had ever put a gun to his head and forced Daryl to be with Beth and the blonde liked to think that he knew her well enough by now to know what he was getting himself in for.

"We don't have to go out with them, anyway," Beth said, shaking her head from left to right as she gently took the cloth from where it was loosely gripped in one of Daryl's big hands and she used it to wipe over her own damp hands. "I don't mind wherever we go. They're all going into the city but I'm sure that someone in town will be having a party of some kind."

Beth paused then, taking the time to place the dishcloth neatly on one of the counter tops before she blinked up at Daryl once more. His deep blue eyes were dancing over hers as he stared right back down at her. "Or we don't have to go at all," Beth then stuttered out, suddenly feeling more than just a little bit self-conscious about how pushy she was being with this whole thing.

It was stupid anyway, she told herself. It wasn't as though there was any reason that a twenty-one year old _woman_ needed to dress up for Halloween.

As if he could read her mind, Daryl broke Beth out of her thoughts by shuffling ever so slightly closer towards her and then he raised one of his arms up from where it had been hanging by his side. Slowly, Daryl moved his hand so that it cupped her jaw, his thumb trailing over the pale skin of Beth's cheek whilst his eyes never broke away from hers.

Even though Beth had no idea what was going through Daryl's mind as he stared down at her, the baker obviously figured out whatever it was that he was thinking because just a few seconds later his rough voice was breaking the silence that had fallen over them. "We'll go anywhere you want, Beth," he told her, his deep blue eyes never even blinking as he spoke to her.

Daryl Dixon might not have just recited Shakespeare for her but as far as Beth was concerned, he had done the next best thing and despite the serious undertone that hung in the air between them both, Beth broke out of that for the moment and threw herself into his arms.

Daryl only hesitated for a second before his arms moved to circle around her waist and he held her tightly to him, her arms wrapped around his neck and her head pressed against his chest. Beth's feet were dangling in the air just above the floor and she squealed slightly when Daryl squeezed her hips tightly, causing her to giggle into the space of the kitchen.

There were some times when Beth was worried that she was forcing Daryl into something that he really didn't want, but then there were other times - times like now - when Beth realised that this was exactly what he wanted, too.

* * *

When Daryl had initially agreed to go out for Halloween with Beth, he had to admit that he hadn't really given it much thought.

At all.

In fact, all that Daryl could really remember about the whole damned agreement was the way in which Beth's big blue eyes had seemed to almost be even bigger than usual, and she had been looking at him so fucking hopefully that he had been practically given no choice but to say yes to whatever it was that she was wanting from him. The girl had seemed to be so damned nervous about asking him such a simple and easy question and even though Daryl had never really been much of a fan of public holidays (since he had always personally seen them as being completely pointless, used as a way for big companies to make a profit on just a normal day of the year) he didn't even hesitate in telling Beth that he would honestly go anywhere on earth that she wanted him to.

It was the truth, too. Daryl would happily go anywhere that Beth wanted him to.

And he knew what Merle would say about it if he knew. His older brother was anything but understanding or mature and he would most definitely whoop and laugh, snickering out about how he had gone and gotten himself pussy whipped - but Daryl didn't care at all about any of that. All that he cared about was making sure that Beth was comfortable enough around hi to not be so nervous about just asking him to go out somewhere with her.

Because _hell,_ he was her boyfriend now - not that it was a term that he liked to regularly use since it just didn't seem to fit right for him, but he guessed that was what he was to her - and although Daryl had never actually been anyone's boyfriend before, he had a feeling that boyfriend's were supposed to tae their girls out to places at least every once in a while. So without even giving the whole thing a second thought, Daryl had nodded his head at Beth and agreed that he would go with her to wherever it was that she wanted to go.

And sure, she had mentioned it since that evening in her parent's kitchen a couple of times, but nothing that screamed too persistent. And every time that Beth had spoken about it, Daryl had nodded his head up and down and smiled when he felt that it was natural for him to - because isn't that what boyfriends were supposed to do?

The thing was, if he was being really honest about it all, it wasn't like he was really forcing his reactions or like he was being completely robotic in all of this. It was just more of a case that it didn't bother him either way whether or not he was staying in or going out. So long as he was getting to spend the night with Beth, then he honestly didn't care where he was or what they were doing.

So as much as Daryl though that the holiday's were pretty pointless, he would still go out with Beth for Halloween - not even because he felt as though he had to, but because he wanted to do whatever made Beth happy.

Well - to an extent.

And that, right now, was the problem.

"I ain't wearin' that," Daryl stated bluntly, his tone gruff as he folded his arms across his chest (which was ever so slightly puffed out). Although he wasn't necessarily _scowling_ at her, Daryl had a pretty good idea that there was definitely a prominent frown upon his face, and as much as he didn't want to look at her so negatively, he couldn't really help it.

From where she was stood directly across from him in the living room of his cabin, Beth smiled somewhat sheepishly, her light blue eyes darting back and forth between Daryl and the bundle of clothes that she was holding up in her arms. Truth be told, it wasn't even like Daryl could actually tell what it was that she was trying to dress him in - really, it could be anything at all - but the fact that she was trying to get him to dress up as _something_ told Daryl all that he needed to know.

It wasn't as though Daryl really had any sort of reason to tell Beth no because deep down, he knew that wearing some stupid costume wasn't going to destroy the bad boy reputation that the idiots in this town had labelled him with. Considering the fact that he owned a damned bakery and some people in this town thought that he was a reincarnation of his late father, he had a feeling that dressing up wouldn't tarnish any of their thoughts about him, either.

But still - this was something that he absolutely was putting his foot down with. It wasn't even like he wanted to dress up. And in all of the times that Beth had mentioned this night, she had never once hinted towards Daryl dressing up as anything. Because of her silence on the matter, the thought of it never even crossed his mind and now he realised that whilst he had just not thought of it at all, Beth clearly had been doing.

But none of that mattered now.

And it also didn't matter how big or how blue Beth Greene's eyes were - he was _not,_ under _any_ circumstances, going to agree to wearing _anything_ that constituted as 'dressing up'.

.

.

.

"Glad to see that you really got into the spirit of Halloween, Daryl."

The sound of Rick Grimes' voice floating through the small space of the entrance hallway (that had been extensively decorated with fake cobwebs and large plastic spiders) had Daryl wanting to do nothing more than roll his eyes and throw his head into his hands, to absolutely throw himself up in defeat. This night just seemed to be getting worse and worse as the minutes passed on and Daryl had already started thinking about the ways in which he would have to start learning about the art of how to say no to Beth Greene, because he had a feeling that he needed to start practising.

And soon.

Some of her friends from college had been heading out into Atlanta with their own boyfriends and Beth had initially asked Daryl to go out with her there, but then she had ended up being invited to this party that was being held in town, and that meant that Daryl was invited, too. It hadn't taken much to convince him to come out with her, if he was being honest - after all, at least a local party meant that they could actually find an easy way to get home instead of having to fork out a load of cash for a cab back from the city.

The party was being held by Tyreese, a guy who neither Beth or Daryl knew that well, but Beth knew his younger sister, Sasha, and apparently the party was open to everyone in town to come down to, anyway.

It seemed like it just so happened that everyone in town included Rick Grimes.

The thing was, Daryl loved Rick. He wasn't ever going to try and deny that fact - at least not anymore. The town's sheriff was like a brother to him and hell, he had been much more of a brother to him than Merle had ever actually been. The pair had known one another for a good few years now and just because they didn't see each other or speak to each other every single day of the week didn't mean that they weren't incredibly close.

Daryl didn't like visiting Rick at work, mostly because of the fact that the sheriff was rarely ever in his office and waiting around at the station made Daryl feel all sorts of uncomfortable and on edge. But Rick popped into the bakery at least a couple of times a week and the two of them would usually go for a beer or lunch somewhere at least one day a week, too.

There had been a time when Daryl Dixon had honestly believed that he could not rely on anyone for anything. As far as he had been concerned, it was just _me, myself & I _and he didn't ever need anyone else for anything at all. Of course, Merle going to prison for a couple of years had done Daryl the world of good and had pushed him towards the opportunity of opening up his own bakery and somewhere along the way it had pushed him in Rick's path, too.

And (thankfully), he had matured - at least in some ways, he figured - and Daryl realised that the attitude he had possessed towards the world was just plain wrong. It turned out that he wasn't completely alone in anything because even though his own big brother was a useless addict-slash-dealer who had drifted in and out of Daryl's life for as long as he could possibly remember, Rick was anything at all like that. Rick Grimes was constant and he was solid and not only was he a good man, but he was also a good friend to Daryl, even at a time when nobody else in time would even walk along the street the same way that he was.

But just because Daryl loved Rick didn't mean that he necessarily wanted him to be at this party tonight.

In fact, Daryl had actually been hoping that his best friend wouldn't be here at all.

Not bothering to respond to Rick's sarcastic comment, Daryl slowly turned his body around so that the two men were now facing each other, and he honestly tried to pull everything back in him so that he didn't glare straight at Rick. Over and over in his mind, Daryl reminded himself that it honestly wasn't Rick's fault that Beth had somehow talked him into this stupid dressing up thing.

"It ain't funny, Grimes," Daryl sighed out, trying to stay as gruff and as defensive as he possibly could.

In all honesty, he didn't think that the costume was all that bad. Apparently he was a vampire; wearing just a simple white shirt and black pants, which is what Beth had used to con him into this whole thing. But then she had gone and whipped out all of this fake blood and smeared it all over the shirt and even a little bit on the dark pants. The fake blood had also been trickled onto his chin and Beth had also (somehow) talked him into wearing some plastic fangs, but Daryl had removed them as soon as he had heard Rick's voice because - he wasn't even over-exaggerating - it was _impossible_ to talk with those things in his mouth.

Smirking, Rick shook his head. "I wasn't laughin'," he said, causing Daryl to narrow his deep blue eyes.

"At least I made an effort," Daryl retorted after looking him up and down, frowning at Rick's 'costume'. It was literally just his sheriff's uniform - the hat and everything.

Shrugging his shoulders, Rick seemed to be completely unaffected by Daryl's observation. "I was in a rush," he explained, looking down at his attire before he glanced back up to Daryl once again. "You here with Beth?"

Daryl nodded his head once in response to Rick's question and allowed his shoulders to sag slightly as he relaxed.

The two of them had only just arrived a couple of minutes ago and already, Daryl had absolutely no idea where on earth Beth had drifted off too. She was dressed up like an angel in a white dress that was sinfully short and clingy and a pair of white feathered wings on her back. She didn't have a halo but her light blonde hair ran straight down her back and looked like enough of a halo as it was, so he figured that she didn't need one. As soon as the two of them had walked into the house, Sasha had been there and she had excitedly squealed at the sight of Beth's costume and then she had pulled her away - Beth throwing an apologetic smile over her shoulder as she did so.

It had all happened so quickly and Daryl had been just about to follow in the direction that the girls had rushed off in when Rick had appeared behind him and now Daryl had a feeling that he probably wouldn't be finding his girl anytime soon.

"C'mon then," Rick said, stepping forward and clapping Daryl on the shoulder. "I need a drink. Gotta whole lotta shit goin' on that I've got to tell you."

Nodding once more, Daryl followed Rick's lead into the living room of the house and then through to the kitchen. As soon as the men stepped through both rooms, Daryl couldn't help but scan around the mostly unfamiliar faces in an attempt to see if he could spot Beth anywhere, but it looked like Sasha had done a real good job of hiding her away from everyone - including him.

"I'm sure she'll turn up somewhere," Rick commented as he grabbed them a beer each from the counter, seeming to read his mind.

Not knowing what to say - and being slightly embarrassed about the fact that he had been caught out looking around for Beth - Daryl just shrugged his shoulders before he took a long swig of the drink.

"Wha's goin' on with you?" Daryl asked then, desperate to change the subject away from Beth. The tips of his ears were still cooling down from where they had been burning at the realisation that Rick had caught him out looking for her. It wasn't like Daryl had never spoken to Rick about Beth before because he had, but it was something that he liked to open up about on his own terms and Rick had caught him by surprise just now.

Shaking his head, Rick took a long swig of his own beer before he let out a very heavy and dramatic sigh. One of his hands was resting on his hip and the other gripped the beer bottle a little bit tighter. "I don't even know where to start," Rick said, shaking his head once again and looking at the floor. "It's Lori."

Moving so that he was resting one of his shoulders against the wall that was closest to him, Daryl just arched his eyebrows slightly and took another sip of his beer. It wasn't necessarily a secret to him that Rick and Lori had been fighting over the last couple of months - hell, it might have even been going on for one year or so, if not longer.

And when he said fighting; Rick meant really, _really_ bad fighting.

The sort of fighting that involved screams and shrieks and at least one thing in the house smashing because one of them had done something stupid out of rage.

"I'm filin' for divorce."

It wasn't as though it was something that seemed all that far-fetched in reality - not when Daryl knew of everything that had been going on between his best friend and Lori in recent times - but the suddenness of Rick's statement had Daryl practically choking on his beer, and it took the baker a few coughs before he could get his breathing back to normal.

The whole time that Daryl tried to compose himself, Rick just stood there across from him staring blankly down at the chilled beer bottle in his hands, and the lack of expression on his best friend's face worried Daryl more than anything else.

After a few seconds of silence, Daryl cleared his throat. "Why?" he asked, thinking to himself about how stupid of a question that was.

'Cause how long was a piece of string?

There was a whole load of shitty reasons that would lead Rick to file for divorce from his wife and it probably made sense that Daryl wouldn't necessarily understand all of those reasons, but even so -

"She's been sleeping with Shane."

Now that?

That really had him gob-smacked.

* * *

 **It feels really weird leaving this chapter here but I can't believe how much of a beast it is and although I could have gone on and on and on, I decided that I would continue with the party in the next chapter. This might just be my longest chapter yet.**

 **Thanks for reading and please review!**


	27. Chapter 27

**I've noticed a few people mentioning in the reviews that they didn't feel as though Beth really did anything about the way that Daryl treated her and I suppose that it's correct. I wanted to work it into this chapter but it didn't really end up happening so I'm going to try and put it into the next one instead.**

* * *

It wasn't all that often that Beth Greene found herself to be... well, _drunk._

Years and years ago - before she had even been born - her daddy had turned himself to the bottle, and it in turn had taken him down a route that he more than regretted. After all of the horror stories that both of her parents had drilled into her about drinking and all of the tales about how long it had taken and how hard it had been just for Hershel to quit the habit, Beth had always supposed that it was only more than natural for her to take a completely different route to her father.

In the end, Beth had found that she had never been very interested in alcohol - or any other vices, for that matter.

Of course, it was difficult _not_ to drink from time to time, particularly on special occasions and holidays. Beth may have only just recently turned twenty one, but the student had grown up with older siblings and older friends, too; who had all in turn encouraged her to have at least one drink or two here and there. And it wasn't necessarily as though Beth had ever really felt as though she needed to have alcohol to have a good time - sometimes (usually the morning's after), she thought that she might actually have a much better time _without_ it - but when everyone else around her was intoxicated, it tended to be nice to feel at least a little bit merry, too.

This, though?

This was definitely past the point of being merry.

"You, miss, are a sloppy, _sloppy_ drunk," Sasha slurred out in a teasing tone, breaking out into a fit of giggles before she somehow stumbled over her own feet.

The brunette was dressed up as a vampire, just like Daryl (only she had made much, much more of an effort than her surly boyfriend had) and she was wearing a long black cape that fell down past her feet, and it seemed like the tall heel of her shoe had caught on to the bottom of her cape, effectively trapping it and causing her to trip. Sasha only ever so slightly avoided tripping over and falling face-down onto the laminate floor.

At the sight of her friend barely just catching her balance, Beth couldn't help but to burst into laughter, too. Within just a few more seconds, the warm space of Sasha's bedroom was filled with the sounds of both of the girls in absolute hysterics. Beth had no idea how long the two of them had been hauled up in her friend's bedroom for (Sasha lived with her older brother, Tyreese, who was the one throwing the Halloween party) but she had a feeling that quite a bit of time had passed since they had first come in here, especially considering how many cocktails and shots the two of them had gone through.

It wasn't as though Beth was the sort of person who would ever pin the blame on anybody else for something, but she had to admit that Sasha had been a terrible influence on her this evening. It wasn't as though this was the first time that something similar had ever happened, though, and Sasha was more than just slightly aware about the fact that Beth wasn't necessarily a big drinker. Still, her friend had continually filled up her wine glass regardless and there had been more than enough shots sent her way throughout the evening to even get a big drinker like Maggie lit, never mind Beth.

"Come on," Sasha said, beckoning her head towards the bedroom door as the girls calmed themselves down from their giggling fit. Sasha held out her hand out towards Beth, motioning with her fingers for her to stand up - along with her help, too. "Let's go find our _men_ ," she said, wiggling her eyebrows playfully and stressing the last word.

A few months before, Sasha had met up with Bob Stookey, a medical professional in training who was relatively new to the town. Despite meeting him on several occasions - he came into the diner for lunch regularly with Sasha - Beth had to admit that she didn't know all that much about him. Bob was a little bit older than Sasha (possibly even older than Daryl) and whilst the man seemed like a nice and genuine enough person, there was still something off about him that didn't necessarily sit right with Beth.

She had absolutely no reason to think like that, though, so Beth tried to push those thoughts away as much as she could.

Giggling at her friend's statement, Beth just nodded her head up and down and interlaced her fingers with Sasha's. Without much more warning, Sasha tugged Beth to her feet with enough force to make the two of them stumble over each other's feet. The two girls walked out of the bedroom hand-in-hand, talking in hushed voices and giggling as they made their way around the house and into the kitchen where most of the party guests were gathered.

It was there in the crowded room that Sasha found Bob talking animatedly with another party-goer, and the brunette squealed excitedly at the sight of him. Bob was dressed up as a zombie wearing scrubs, and Sasha squeezed Beth's hand once more before she let go of it and rushed towards her boyfriend without any hesitation, tumbling straight into him and wrapping her arms tightly around his waist.

The sudden loss of support that she had from Sasha caused Beth to sway on her feet ever so slightly, but after just a couple of seconds she managed to catch herself before she fell over. Blinking over at the sight of Bob ducking his head down so that he could passionately kiss Sasha on the lips, Beth figured out to herself that her friend wasn't coming back to her any time soon and so she turned on her heel and made her way around the rest of the house, her light blue eyes wide as she scanned over the groups of people in an attempt to find any sign of Daryl.

A part of her (that was still unaffected by the alcohol that was buzzing through her system) was still thinking somewhat logically and reasonably felt guilty for disappearing with Sasha for what could have been hours upon hours. The realisation that she had left Daryl completely on his own at this party full of strangers flickered through her mind and the guilt immediately intensified; but when Beth finally caught sight of him sat down on one of the living room couches with Rick Grimes, Beth found herself to be instantly relieved.

As Beth squeezed her way past the crowds of people and into the living room, she made eye contact with Daryl - who seemed to be intently listening to Rick, who was sat beside him and talking animatedly - and offered him a dazzling (and slightly sheepish) smile. The baker's deep blue eyes held with hers for a long couple of seconds and the corner of his lips twitched upwards in a half-smile before he looked back at Rick, nodding his head up and down as though he was still listening to the man intently.

And who knows - maybe he really was.

But the way in which Daryl raised the beer bottle to his lips and drifted his gaze back towards where Beth was now walking confidently over to the two of them had her assuming that her man suddenly wasn't listening to Rick Grimes as well as he had been doing just a couple of minutes before.

.

.

.

Somewhere along the line, Beth had ended up positioning herself snugly in the middle of Daryl Dixon's lap.

Her head was resting against one of his shoulder's, her lips ever so slightly brushing against his neck whenever he nodded his head up and down in response to Rick, and her light blue eyes were greatly struggling to stay open as he continued to chat with Rick. Every time he moved to nod or to take another swig of his drink, his stubble ticked against her cheek, but it didn't necessarily bother her. Eventually, he moved so that his chin was resting on the top of Beth's head, leaving his mouth in line with her ear and every time that Daryl spoke, the sound of his voice had shivers trickling down her spine.

Rick had originally been positioned on the couch beside Daryl, but as the hours pressed on, the crowds of guests who had taken over the party were beginning to dwindle with most of them explaining that it was time for them to head back home now. Apparently, Rick Grimes did not get the memo that it was getting close to leaving time, and he continued his discussion with Daryl happily - only he moved himself to the other couch that was situated across from the one he had been sat on, no doubt in an attempt to put a little bit of space between himself and the couple.

It wasn't like Beth and Daryl were necessarily keen on public displays of affection - which was something Beth thought to herself that Rick would definitely know, especially considering the fact that he knew Daryl as well as he did - but she was drunk and a little bit giddy and Beth couldn't help herself but to press kisses against his jaw every now and then or to snuggle closer to him from time to time.

Perhaps if he had ever seemed uncomfortable with her behaving this way then she wouldn't have carried on with it. Beth supposed that it was likely, at least, even in her drunken state. And once upon a time, Daryl _had_ been uncomfortable with this sort of interaction; he had shied away from her touch at every opportunity, choosing instead to interact with her on a more verbal level as opposed to a physical one.

But somewhere down the line, things had changed between the two of them. He had really opened up to her and even though it hadn't necessarily all been smooth, plain sailing for them, it had all worked out in the end - just like she had kept telling herself that it would - and even if Daryl had taken his time to let her break through his walls, she personally thought that it was all worth it now.

The alcohol was still coursing through her system in a way that had all parts of her buzzing, and Beth was indeed still very, very drunk; but as she listened to Rick talk on about his cheating wife and his disloyal partner at work, Beth couldn't help herself but to fall asleep right then and there.

Literally.

One minute, she could hear Rick saying something about filing the papers - which Beth assumed would be for a divorce - and then the next thing that she knew, Beth was being scooped up into Daryl's arms. Her head lolled from where it had been resting in between the crook of his neck and she pulled back from him ever so slightly, incoherent words tumbling out of her mouth as she looked up into Daryl's deep blue eyes.

There was a sharp pain in her neck which had no doubt occurred because of the way that she had been resting against Daryl, but that was nothing in comparison to the pounding in her head. She tried to push herself up further from his arms but it just resulted in her feeling incredibly dizzy, and she effectively gave up any attempt to move and instead relaxed back against his shoulder.

"Welcome back to the land of the living," Daryl quirked, his lips dangerously close to her ear so that she was almost shivering again.

Beth had a feeling that the older man knew exactly what he was doing to her, but she ignored that for now. Instead, Beth concentrated more on the fact that the two of them had somehow ended up at Daryl's cabin instead of at Tyreese's house.

As if he could read her mind, Daryl answered her unspoken question. "Rick gave us a lift home," he explained as he used his foot to push open the front door. Stuttering over his words, Daryl seemed to realise what he had said and cleared his throat awkwardly before corrected himself. "A lift... here."

Her heart fluttered and she desperately wanted to save him from himself before he began to panic but with the way that her head was currently throbbing, there wasn't any possibility that Beth could even come up with anything to say to him. Instead, she leaned backwards in his arms so that he could see her face and she offered him a warm and understanding smile.

Daryl manoeuvred his way through the dark rooms like an expert; not even stepping on the floorboards that creaked loudly as he walked into the bedroom, and Beth recalled in that moment about the time that he had briefly told her about how he had spent a lot of time in the woods as a child; sometimes hunting, sometimes not. She had thought to herself at the time that it definitely explained his quiet and sometimes anti-social demeanour, but it also occurred to her that he might miss that lifestyle, too.

When Beth had asked him, he had just shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly and grunted out a noise that she assumed meant that he didn't want to talk about it any further.

"You lie down," Daryl said as he gently sat Beth down on the double bed before he leaned up and flicked on the lamp that was positioned on top of the bedside table. He straightened himself up and looked down at her, his deep blue eyes flickering over his features as he cleared his throat. "'M gonna go lock up," he said in ways of an explanation before he departed the bedroom, leaving Beth alone for a couple of minutes to try and gather her thoughts and sober herself up.

* * *

"Thank you, Daryl," Beth breathed out with a huge smile as she accepted the glass of water that he was holding out to her.

Shrugging his shoulders in an attempt to feign indifference, Daryl busied himself by taking a long, deep gulp from his own glass before he sat it down on the bedside table, moving himself to that he was unbuttoning his jeans. "What?" he asked when Beth cocked a brow up at him from where she was sat up in the bed, the glass of water raised to her lips. "S'just water."

His poor explanation left Beth just rolling her eyes dramatically at him before she shook her head from side to side, a knowing smile stretching out across her lips as she blinked up at him. "You know what I meant, Daryl Dixon," she said to him.

Suddenly feeling more than just a little bit on the spot, Daryl swallowed thickly and heavily avoided eye contact with those huge blue eyes of hers and instead he focused solely on the act of pulling his jeans down his legs.

And of course Daryl knew what it was that Beth had meant just then when she had thanked him. In general, Beth was a very happy person; a positive, optimistic person, and she was the sort of girl who always managed to see the good side of absolutely everything. After knowing her for quite some time now, Daryl was at a point where he was confident enough in his own mind to properly understand a lot of the things that Beth said to him, and right now, she had been thanking him for _everything_ to do with tonight - not just the glass of water.

From him even attempting to keep her happy by smearing a bit of fake blood over his face to him carrying her home when she was far too drunk to really take care of herself, Daryl knew that she was thanking him for all of it.

But _fuck,_ he was such a _dumbass,_ and he couldn't even think of anything that he could say to her in that moment. Daryl had absolutely no idea what the hell he was supposed to do with that; what he was supposed to do with her kindness, what he was supposed to do with her genuine support. All that Daryl ever did when anyone complimented him on anything was snort and shrug and just brush it off, but all it ever took was for Beth Greene to go and pull him up on it like that, and it left him without a clue of what he was supposed to do or say next.

"Well, aren't you gonna join me?"

The sound of Beth's soft and gentle voice echoing throughout the small room pulled Daryl from his thoughts and he realised that he had been staring down at where his jeans had pooled around his ankles and against the floor for far too long now. Snapping his head up, his deep blue eyes burned straight across and into her own for a long few seconds before he nodded his head once, taking nowhere near as long to remove his shirt before he sat himself in bed beside her.

At the party, Beth's hair had been loose and straight but sometime in between him locking up the cabin and then making them both a glass of water each, Beth had pulled it into a loose braid that fell down the length of her back. There was still some hair loose around her face though and when she moved herself over him so that she could press a chaste kiss to his lips, Daryl couldn't stop himself but to tuck some of it behind her ear.

It was an action that he would have never even dared to do just a few months before and something that would have probably even embarrassed him just a couple of weeks ago, but ever since the night that he had shown Beth his scars and had opened up about the abuse that he had endured as a child, things just seemed to be so _different_ between the two of them. Everything came much more naturally to him now and he was no longer as worried about doing or saying the wrong thing to her as he had been just a short few weeks ago.

"I love you," she murmured down at him as her light blue eyes danced over his own, a soft smile resting on her lips.

It was something that he wasn't ready to say back to her - not just yet, at least - but he knew that Beth more than understood. She didn't know all of the details but she was a smart girl and she was studying to be a Social Worker, for fucks sake - she could piece the puzzle together and figure out everything that he hadn't told her pretty well.

Daryl was almost one hundred percent sure that Beth knew that nobody else except from his brother had ever said those words to him (and that had only ever been when he was drunk or high) and that there had never been a single person that Daryl had ever said those words back to. It had never been something that applied to him because he just didn't feel it.

But Beth was just _different_ and he knew that he wanted to tell her that he loved her. The words were just caught in his throat and as much as he wanted to say it, it just always seemed as though every time he tried, he couldn't.

"It's alright," Beth said then, one of her hands cupping his jaw, her thumb tracing back and forth over his cheek as she looked down into his eyes.

Times like this - it almost made Daryl feel like Beth could literally read his thoughts. She knew him far better than anybody else did and the girl didn't even realise it.

Pushing all of the thoughts to the back of his head as much as he possibly could, Daryl re-positioned himself so that one of his arms was tucked behind his head and leaned up so that he could close the distance between the two of them, meeting Beth's lips with his own and igniting a kiss between them that was anything but chaste.

* * *

 **Sorry that this took so long! Uni is such a nightmare and I've been focussing on assignments for what feels like forever. I'm still trying to update all of my stories and I wanted to get this out to you all quickly so I've not even had chance to read over it to proof-read or add more detailed content so I apologise if it seems a bit... _basic._**

 **The next chapter should go back to normal chapter length as this one is a little bit short for what I usually write for this story. Hope you forgive me, anyway!**

 **(P.S: I have a feeling this won't be wrapped up in 30 chapters. Maybe 35? Who knows. I honestly feel like I could write this forever.)**


	28. Chapter 28

**I'm not really sure if this chapter seems as though it has been a little rushed but it's my twenty-first birthday on Thursday (12th) so I wanted to get this out here as I probably won't get chance to write anything all weekend as I'm pretty busy.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Despite the fact that November had (technically) now fallen upon them, the state of Georgia was uncharacteristically warm for the time of year. It wasn't as though Beth could necessarily stroll around town wearing shorts and cropped tee-shirts like she had easily done a few months prior during the peak of summer, but the weather was still pleasant enough so that she hadn't pulled out her woolly hats and gloves or her thick coats.

In the middle of the night, Beth slowly stirred awake, assuming that it was because of the fact that she was far too warm, she found that her pale skin was sticky and damp from where her body was practically dripping with sweat. Blinking her light blue eyes open in an attempt to help them adjust to the pitch darkness of the bedroom, Beth arched her back in a way that was not unlike the manner of a cat, stretching herself out in the small space.

As she came to, Beth realised that her slender body was curled up incredibly tightly around Daryl Dixon's much larger frame.

This was a sleeping position that the pair of them had adopted quite early on in their relationship: Daryl lay on his back with one of his muscular arms wrapped around her shoulders and his other arm positioned across his bare chest so that his hand could rest lazily on her hip. Snuggled close against him, Beth sighed happily; her head tucked into the crook of his neck and her own arms wrapped around him, her fingers playing lazily with the dusting of hair on his chest.

During the night, Beth had hooked one of her legs so that it was hoisted around both of Daryl's thighs, effectively wrapping across his groin. It was hardly as though she was pinning him down to the bed - after all, Beth was pretty sure that they both knew that Daryl could easily overpower her at any given time - but it was as though the general presence and slight weight of her smooth leg had kept him still in place during the night.

Unable to stop herself, Beth wondered how it would feel if she pushed herself properly on top of Daryl so that she would be straddling him.

Simply from the way in which Daryl was breathing - slow and deep and incredibly steady - Beth could easily recognise that he was very much still fast asleep. Moving her head back ever so slightly so that she could make out the outline of his face a little bit better than she had been able to before, Beth watched in a fascinated manner - even in the darkness - as he quietly inhaled and softly exhaled his breath, never making much noise as he did so.

A soft smile danced across her lips as she continued to watch him and try as she might to resist the urge to touch him and possibly disturb him from his slumber, Beth couldn't seem to be able to help herself but to allow one of her hands to wander curiously over Daryl's features. Snaking her hand up from where it had been resting on his firm chest, Beth traced the outline of his nose and his lips with her index finger before she moved to cup his jaw, stroking her thumb backwards and forwards over his trimmed-down stubble.

Goodness, he was just so _handsome_ that it almost hurt, and he seemed so oblivious to it the majority of the time that Beth wondered if he even knew it at all.

A couple of hours ago, the two of them had stumbled into his bed and Beth knew that even after a good few hours of peaceful sleep, she was still pretty drunk right now. Her head was still spinning (but the lack of light in the bedroom definitely helped with that) and even though she could still taste alcohol in her mouth, Beth had to admit that the taste wasn't necessarily all too foreign or even overly unpleasant.

Swallowing it all down, Beth allowed her eyes to flutter to a soft, dreamy close before she burrowed herself closer to Daryl, letting out a soft sigh as she did so. Despite the fact that she was already far too warm, Beth couldn't find it within herself to pull away from Daryl - even if he was always much, much warmer than her.

Before she had gotten into bed, Beth had undressed herself (not that she could actually recall doing it, if she was being honest) and apparently, so had Daryl. The baker was wearing nothing but a pair of boxers and Beth was simply wearing a pair of white lace panties that had matched perfectly with her angel costume.

Licking her lips, Beth edged her leg just slightly upwards and nuzzled her face closer towards Daryl's neck. From the position that the two of them were in, Beth's leg edging upwards meant that her core was now positioned slightly higher and despite the fact that Daryl was currently still fast asleep, Daryl's body seemed to be very much so alert.

The gentle pressure that Beth had put against him by shifting her leg seemed to have woken up his body fully, and Beth couldn't help but to be satisfied - and a little bit smug - at the feeling of him pressing hard against the inside of her upper thigh, so incredibly close to where she suddenly wanted him to be.

Really, Beth had to be honest with herself and admit that she had no idea what on earth it was that she was doing (or at least trying to do) considering the fact that it was the middle of the night and she was still pretty drunk as well as tired, sweaty and sort of sickly. But despite the fact that she wasn't necessarily feeling anywhere close to her best, Beth still moved her leg so that it was angled even higher now in an attempt to relieve the tingling sensations that was building up between her thighs by bringing her core impossibly closer to where Daryl was hard for her.

It was as though her whole body was burning and the best way to satisfy her lustful need seemed to be quite simple and clear in her head, so Beth followed her natural instincts (that were probably fuelled by the alcohol) and experimentally pushed herself down against his length as best as she could from this angle and brushed herself upwards, effectively grinding against him.

The sensation felt good - real, _real_ good, and Beth's eyes closed instantly as she circled her hips again, rubbing herself against Daryl's length. Right now, she wasn't even all that concerned about her panties or his boxers because believe it or not; brushing up against him in this manner actually felt pretty damned nice, and Beth had no intention of rushing anything.

In reality, the blonde had absolutely no idea what it was that had come over her right now. The shots and the home-made cocktails that Sasha had created for her not long before had clearly aided her confidence because a sober Beth Greene would probably never be able to muster up the courage to behave like this. Usually, her mind was clouded by doubt and self-conscious thoughts but right now, all of that seemed to melt away, and Beth felt more bold than she ever had done with Daryl in the past.

After repeating the motion of grinding against Daryl several times, Beth found a sort of rhythm that she enjoyed that involved circling her hips in a foreign manner. Beth quickly learned what felt good for her and she bit down harshly on her lower lip in an attempt to stifle her moans at how good such a simple act felt in that moment.

Even though she was overcome by lust and still not necessarily thinking completely straight because of the amount of alcohol in her system, Beth was still trying her best to be quiet and cautious out of the fact that she didn't want to wake up Daryl when he was peacefully sleeping. It seemed as though her efforts to keep her man in a state of unconsciousness were in vain though because soon, the little signs were al apparent.

The sound of Daryl's breathing changing so that it came out shorter and less composed hit her ears along with the feel of his hand gripping at the bare flesh of her hip just a little bit tighter than it had been doing before. The feel of his heartbeat beginning to speed up and pound against his chest beneath her upper body and the way in which his lips parted, letting out a low, shaky breath that sounded more like a moan.

But as Beth brushed herself against Daryl at a faster rate, she found that she couldn't seem to be able to think about anything other than how good this felt in the here and now - even though a small part of her genuinely did want to make sure that he wasn't too confused by all of this as he slowly re-entered consciousness - and Beth ignored all of the signs that he gave her; instead choosing to focus on the goal of releasing the pressure that had built up in her core.

It wasn't as though Beth could really pinpoint when it was exactly when Daryl had started to move back against her too, but at some point or other he had done just that. Soon, the two of them created a much more steadier rhythm which involved Daryl bucking his own hips so that his length pushed much harder against her core, and then he sped up so that he was thrusting his hips directly up and into her every time that she brushed herself forwards.

This time, Beth could not hold back the sounds of her pleasure and she let out a long, low moan at the friction. Her head fell backwards from where it had been nuzzled into the crook of Daryl's neck and her mouth fell open wide at the pleasurable feeling, and within a few more minutes of continuing the same actions, Beth found that her whole body was trembling from the waves of her impending orgasm.

She was so, _so_ close now and Beth wasn't even sure whether she just thought those words or actually breathed them out; but no sooner had she done one or the other, Daryl gripped her hip even harder than before and guided her down on the bed, rolling over her so that she was pinned beneath him. The sudden change in position had Beth gasping into the darkness before his mouth came on top of hers and he kissed her almost harshly.

Not wanting to stop as Daryl deepened the kiss, Beth pushed her legs outwards so that she could wrap them around Daryl's hips, moaning into their kiss at the intimate position and the way he felt so much better pressed directly against her like this. All that it would take was the tugging of some flimsy pieces of fabric and they could actually be united once again, but Beth knew that neither of them were in the right state of mind to access any protection right now and the last thing that Beth wanted to do was risk having unprotected sex for a second time within the space of a few weeks.

Seeming to much prefer being in control of the pace thanks to their change in position, Daryl ground himself harder and faster against Beth, his movements becoming frantic. Unable to think of anything else except her own pleasure in that moment, Beth hardly even noticed when Daryl's body suddenly stiffened and then she didn't even register the sensation of wet liquid spurting into the thin material of his dark boxers.

From where he was positioned on top of her, Daryl let out a muffled groan and buried his face into Beth's light blonde hair, his hands resting flat against the space on the mattress on either side of her head. Instead of stopping - which was practically impossible considering how close she was to reaching her orgasm - Beth continued to grind against him, and just a few seconds later Beth managed to find her own release.

When she finally came, Beth moaned out into the darkness of the bedroom, her light eyes squeezed tightly shut as she rode out the waves of her pleasure. Beth's head was still spinning when Daryl eventually pulled her back into his chest, and he heart was still racing in her chest when she closed her eyes to drift back off to sleep.

Despite the even warmer temperature of the bedroom, Beth found herself now able to drift back into a state of unconsciousness much easier than she had done before.

.

.

.

 _"Ouch."_

Everything in the bedroom around her was spinning in circles and Beth winced as she pushed herself up in bed so that she was leaning on her elbows, debating the notion of just flopping back down on her back and falling straight back to sleep once more.

The curtains in the room had been drawn and the sunlight that was filling the small space was practically blinding, causing Beth's eyes to spin impossibly faster in a way that had her immediately scrunching them shut as tightly as she possibly could. Her head was pounding something awful, and much to her disliking, the taste of vodka seemed to be incredibly heavy upon her tongue.

It wasn't as though Beth had never experienced a hangover before, but _this -_ well, this had to be the worst one ever.

With her head throbbing so painfully, Beth hadn't even heard Daryl as he entered the bedroom (when exactly he had left, she had absolutely no idea) and she naturally jumped in fright at the sudden sound of his deep voice. Instinctively, her light blue eyes shot open from where they had been squeezed shut and despite how truly horrible she felt right then, Beth couldn't help but to smile at the sight of Daryl Dixon stood in the doorway to the bedroom with a tray in his hands.

A tray of breakfast.

Well; it wasn't as though it was anything much, really. The tray was mostly taken up by one large plate that held about five or six slices of buttered toast, but it also balanced two reasonably sized glasses of water and Beth could just about make out the unopened packet of pain-relief tablets that sat in between the glasses.

Standing almost hesitantly in the doorway for a few more seconds, Daryl eventually cleared his throat and crossed the room, allowing the door to swing to a soft close behind him. The brightness of the room was still hurting Beth's head and eyes, but the smell of food had her almost completely distracted as Daryl made his way over towards her.

There was a confused expression on his face as he paused before he could get near enough to the bed to actually sit down. "You smilin' at me or the food?" he asked her, glancing down at the pile of toast before his dark blue eyes flickered up to meet with her own once again.

Shaking her head from side to side and causing her hair to fly around her face, Beth didn't even try to attempt to prevent the laughter from bubbling loudly in her throat. Instead, she giggled loudly and simply beamed up at him. "The food, of course," she said as collected as she possibly could, but Beth's smile naturally became impossibly brighter at the sight of Daryl rolling his eyes at her comment.

Now that the mood had lightened, Daryl seemed to be a lot more comfortable and relaxed, and he edged closer towards her so that he could sit the tray directly beside Beth on the bed.

In reality, Daryl bringing her breakfast in bed like this - especially when she felt so disgusting and queasy - was an absolutely lovely thing for him to do, and Beth honestly really did appreciate all of the effort that he was making towards their relationship. As much as she wanted to voice her caring thoughts, Beth knew Daryl well enough by now to understand that the youngest Dixon was not a man who wanted excessive compliments from her or to be put on the spot, and despite the fact that Beth very much so wanted Daryl to know how much she loved moments like this with him, she held her tongue.

Before Beth could even attempt to eat anything, she knew that she would at least need something to drink and without further invitation she scooped up the packet of pain-relief pills and helped herself to two. Thankfully, Daryl's glasses of water were quite generous so she didn't use all of the refreshment on helping her swallow the tablets and she chugged down the cool liquid as quickly as she possibly could, scooting over in bed as she did so to make sure that there was enough room for him to sit beside her.

Despite the fact that Beth knew that it was absolutely impossible for the tablets to have any real effect on her well-being so suddenly, she couldn't help but to feel a little bit better after taking them - even if the whole thing really was just a placebo effect.

"Feel any better?" Daryl asked her as he sat himself down beside her on the bed, placing one arm behind his head and crossing his long legs at the ankles. Without missing a beat, he leaned forward to grab a slice of toast and took a large bite out of it.

Nodding her head up and down, Beth reached out for a slice of her own and held back a moan when she began to eat her breakfast. Anything would probably taste heavenly right now, but in this moment, it seemed like toast was just the most perfect thing that Daryl could have made.

"Yeah," she said, looking directly at him with her wide blue eyes as she spoke. "Yeah, I do."

.

.

.

Since Beth was now in the final year of her studies, the workload just seemed to piling up higher and higher around her; and as much as Beth desperately wanted to do nothing more than put all of it off, it seemed as though it was absolutely impossible to just avoid her assignments the same way that she had done in the years prior. Her peers seemed to be struggling to keep up with the hectic workload just as much as Beth was, but that didn't mean that she felt any better about it all.

There was still her main research paper to complete which was to be around seven thousand words long and that would account for the majority of her final grade for her whole degree. Most of the students on her course were dreading their research project more than anything, but Beth was more concerned about the smaller assignments that they also had to complete, and the last thing that she wanted to do was to leave everything until the last minute.

Wanting nothing more than to pull her hair out as she scribbled down a summarised version of what the lecturer was saying onto a fresh piece of paper in her notebook, Beth instead tried to focus on calming herself down. It was more or less impossible not to be stressed about her degree: after all, it was something that was incredibly important to her, and considering the fact that she would soon be competing with all of her fellow students for a job in the social work field, it was more than necessary for her to do as well as she possibly could.

Still, that didn't mean that Beth found it easy not to get too caught up in the sheer panic of it all.

There was still another six months left of studying and working to complete before the students would have to hand in their research proposals, which Beth had actually already started at the beginning of this semester, which put her ahead of a lot of her peers who were still debating over what topic they could explore. Beth's research question focused upon early childhood abuse (a topic which she had selected before she had even met Daryl) and the effects that such abuse can have upon a person when they come to raising a family of their own.

Once the lecture was finished, Beth practically threw her pen down against her notepad and leaned back in her seat, an exhausted sigh dripping out from her lips. Raising a hand to her forehead, Beth rubbed her fingers over the skin there and counted to ten in an attempt to somewhat clear her head and help her focus on nothing else but her lunch break.

It really was incredibly difficult not to get too caught up in the stress of everything that college had to offer, but she was at the last hurdle right now and Beth Greene was not going to give up easily. Tired or not, she pushed herself upwards - throwing her notepad and pen into her handbag - and marched out of the room, heading straight towards the canteen in search for something nice to eat.

Well - perhaps for some coffee, too.

* * *

"I wanna ask you somethin'," Beth said, her eyes focused on the road ahead of her as she drove them both in the direction of the cabin.

Not saying anything in response to her statement - because really, what was he supposed to say to that? - Daryl just looked straight over at Beth, noticing the way that she was almost frowning whilst she drove, something that he had never really seen her do before. The youngest Greene girl was such a genuinely happy person and it was rare to ever see Beth doing anything other than smile.

Clearing her throat, Beth glanced over at where Daryl was sat in the passenger's seat beside her before she shifted almost awkwardly and then looked back out towards the road ahead of her. They had pulled down the street that led towards the cabin now and even though it was one that Beth must have known like the back of her hand by now, the blonde still didn't tear her light blue eyes away from it.

"Well," she began, taking one hand off the wheel so that she could tuck some of her wavy blonde hair behind her ear. "It's just that - you know, the other week. When you sort of... disappeared."

After just those few words, Beth paused, seeming to want to gather up her thoughts before she continued on with what it was that she wanted to say. Never one to push, Daryl once again chose to remain silent, his deep blue eyes locked on her face the whole time. "You're not... I mean, it sounds so stupid. Really. But, I've gotta know - you're not goin' to do that again, are you?"

The stuttered question threw him off guard, if Daryl was being honest. Just a few moments before when Beth had initially brought it up, Daryl had panicked and thoughts to himself about the ways in which Beth was going to attempt to convince him to open up more about what had actually happened with his pa and Merle and how he was dealing with it all now.

Truthfully, Daryl didn't feel like there was much to say about it. He had been an asshole to her and he knew it, but right then, Beth had been at the back of his mind. It didn't matter how long it had been since Daryl had seen or spoken to his old man, the guy was still his father and when Merle informed him that he was dead, Daryl had no idea how he was supposed to feel.

Turning to Merle for support had hardly been an intelligent idea but right then, Daryl had been desperate and he had needed his brother - his _blood -_ more than anything, or anyone, else.

At least that's what Daryl had thought at the time, anyway.

Now, things were different; and not just because Merle was always fucking up and fucking his little brother around. Daryl actually had someone consistent in his life who he could rely on, someone who actually cared about him (and not just because they sort of, well - had to) and he wasn't prepared to fuck that up again, not for anything.

Not for his dead dad who more than deserved to be stuck six feet under and not for his dumbass of a brother, either.

"Nah, Beth," Daryl said, answering her question with a shake of his head. He had probably been quiet for long enough about the subject matter and he probably knew deep down that this was going to happen sometime or other.

After all, he supposed that all excuses pushed aside, he had treated Beth pretty shitty for those few days. He had been overcome by emotions at the news of his father's dead that Daryl didn't know how to even begin to deal with - fury, sadness, guilt, joy - and in all honesty, the last thing on his mind in those few days had been Beth Greene. Perhaps his subconscious had been pining for her company, but Daryl had chose to leave everything else to one side and to join his brother in an attempt to almost _grieve_ the man who had called himself their dad.

That hadn't really worked out too well for either of them, of course. The brother's had a habit of clashing and even at this age, it seemed as though they were still so different. Whilst Daryl's drug of choice (so to speak) was his work - throwing himself in as much as possible, working the longest and most exhausting shifts in an attempt to keep himself busy and distracted - Merle's drug was literally that: drugs.

It took a lot for him to admit that, though, and the car was quiet for a few moments after before Daryl cleared his throat and spoke up again.

"'M sorry," he said, voice louder and even clearer than he had thought it would have been given what it was that he had just said to her. Now that he thought about it, Daryl wasn't sure when the last time he apologised to anyone had been.

The way in which Beth's light blue eyes dramatically widened and flickered over to him before they returned back towards the road in front of her hinted to Daryl that she was genuinely surprised to hear those words come from his mouth.

The thought of her never expecting him to admit that he had been wrong caused Daryl to sigh out loud, but he tried to push those sorts of thoughts away and instead focused upon what was happening right now. "I know it ain't worth shit no more, an' I know I don't really have much of a clue about how this is s'posed to work between us - but it won't be like that again."

 _I promise._

He didn't voice that part, but Daryl could tell by the bright smile on Beth's face that he didn't need to.

She understood.

She always did.

Beth had a habit of being able to read him loud and clear, even when he didn't necessarily want her to. Even when it was the last thing that he was thinking or even when it was something that he hadn't even properly registered or realised, Daryl was always pleasantly surprised (and yet at the same time, hardly surprised at all) every time that Beth practically read his mind.

 _I love you._

Daryl wondered if she could read that as easily as she could read everything else in his eyes, and for the rest of that evening, Daryl found himself trying to stumble over the words as best as he could.

As was to be expected, they didn't come out that day - but there was absolutely no harm in trying, and perhaps one day he would be able to voice to Beth Greene exactly how it was that he felt about her.

* * *

 **Beth seemed to have a lot more to say than Daryl did for me in this chapter but I'm already part way through the next one and Daryl seems to be more of the focus there. Merle is also making a return in the next chapter.**

 **Thanks for reading and please review!**


	29. Chapter 29

**Sorry. But if it's any consolation to you - like, any at all - I had the best 21st birthday ever. So, you know... That kind of makes up for waiting a bit longer for this chapter. Right?!**

 **I'm also sorry that this is a bit shorter than usual. And I've also not even checked over it because I just wanted to get it out to you all at this point. And even if it doesn't seem like it, this is actually a really important chapter for this story - especially the last little bit :)**

* * *

To some people, waking up incredibly early in the morning - more often than not before the sun had even started to rise - and getting to work to open up a shop would have been an absolute nightmare. It wasn't necessarily the most fun or interesting job in the world to have, nor was it anything particularly motivating; but for Daryl Dixon, it was just - well, _normal._

His routine was, by now, pretty much set in stone. From Monday to Friday, he would wake himself up as early as possible (more often than not with the assistance of his bedside alarm clock), head down to the diner to get his breakfast (wishing that he was still served by Beth every morning) and then setting off to the bakery so that he could start preparing the stock for the day. It wasn't a fascinating routine, that he knew all too well; but it was _his_ routine, and compared to the jumbled up mess that Daryl had lived when he was much younger, it was amazing - and hell, he was pretty damn happy with it, too.

Throughout all of his life, Daryl had never really been able to be the sort of person who could just idly lounge around the house all day. Not that he liked to think too much about it, but Daryl figured that it had something to do with the fact that doing so would more than likely just remind him of his pa; a lazy man who had never worked a day in his life - well, not that Daryl had ever seen, anyway. Now that the youngest Dixon owned his own business, it actually felt as though he had a genuine purpose to life, and the last thing that he ever wanted to do was just stay in bed.

Well - unless Beth was him, of course.

And Daryl knew very well that he simply just didn't have to keep doing this whole song and dance anywhere near as often as he did. The bakery had been open for a good few years now and whilst at first, customers had seemed a little sceptical about shopping somewhere that was owned by a Dixon, most people seemed to have overcome that fear and judgemental attitude. Now, most of the local people from town paid the bakery a visit at least a couple of times a week, and even though Daryl wasn't the most sociable of people, he found that quite a few of the regulars had become friendly enough over the years.

The bakery itself was earning its fair share of money nowadays - enough to keep it open and enough so that Daryl could live his life debt-free and still put a bit away into his savings every month - and it seemed as though the store was at a point now where it was basically running itself.

Everyone around him - Rick and Beth, Rosita and Abraham - told Daryl often enough that he really needed to take a break from work and that he could very happily ease off from coming into work as often as he did. And in all honesty, Daryl knew that he could trust Rosita and Abraham enough to run the bakery without him really doing much in terms of coming in and helping out; even if it would mean considering the possibility of hiring another staff member so that there was an extra body at hand for when the bakery got really busy.

But then, if he was going to be really honest with himself, then Daryl would have to admit that he actually really didn't want to take a step back away from this store - _his_ store.

In its own little way, the bakery was Daryl's pride and joy. It was something that he had accomplished all on his own, without the help or support of anyone else around him; and whilst he hadn't literally built it brick by brick, he had created the inside of it - turning it from absolutely nothing into something that was now really _his._ Even if it wasn't the fanciest thing to own in the world, it was something that was his own, something that he had worked for and earned and accomplished.

The bakery made Daryl money and it did enough to get him by and it kept him busy, too. And more than anything else, Daryl - on the whole - enjoyed spending his days working there.

Throughout his late teens and his early twenties, the youngest Dixon had floated from job to job, always working under some other big boss man who would bark orders at him and his colleagues about what to do and when. There was a part of him that really didn't even hate that sort of lifestyle - in fact, most of the time, Daryl actually enjoyed being given a bit of direction by someone above him. But nowadays, it just seemed to work out a hell of a lot easier for Daryl to work for himself and no-one else.

Plus, being his own boss came with its perks, too.

Unfortunately for Daryl Dixon, one of those perks was _not_ listening to Rosita chatter on with herself at five to seven in the morning. The younger woman was leaning against the glass counter that was currently empty, picking at her fingernails and appearing to be completely oblivious to the fact that Daryl was working as hard and as fast as he could to knead and plait the dough and plop it down onto one of the large trays that covered the counter top so that he could slip it into one of the many large ovens in the back area.

"So," Rosita said, straightening herself out and finally choosing to actually look over at where Daryl was stood just as he finished off sprinkling an extra dusting of flour over the top of the dough; all of which had now been shaped neatly and evenly placed out onto the tray. "I was thinking about this place."

Not verbally responding to her statement, Daryl glanced up in the younger woman's direction before he wiped his palms down onto his white apron - that was tucked into the top of his jeans so that it covered him from the waist down - in an attempt to clean up his hands before he carried the tray over towards one of the ovens.

Taking the silence as a cue for her to continue talking, Rosita didn't move as she watched Daryl place the tray into the oven, setting the temperature to a point where it was just right before he moved to grab a large pack of coke bottles and then moved, carrying them with ease and placing them directly in front of the tall and narrow fridge that was positioned in the middle of the main shop floor of the bakery.

"We _need_ to make a social media account. You know - attract some new customers. Connect with the regular ones."

Ripping the top of the packet open, Daryl scrunched the cardboard up into a ball before he straightened himself up and walked back towards the counter so that he could prepare some more food whilst Rosita replaced him at the fridge.

After a second, Daryl let out a heavy sigh as he snapped on a fresh pair of gloves. "Like what?" he asked, voice raspy from its lack of use this morning.

Shrugging her narrow shoulders, Rosita pouted thoughtfully as she pulled out the first few bottles of coke from the packet, holding the fridge door open with her foot as she began to slide them in. "I was thinking something like instagram," she explained, glancing over towards Daryl from where she was stacking up the empty fridge.

When Daryl didn't say anything back to that (mostly because of the fact that he didn't want to admit that he had never even heard of the damned thing before), Rosita once again took this as a cue for her to continue with what she had been saying.

God, how he missed when this girl was actually kind of scared by his long silences.

"We could put up pictures of the food that we make. Especially when we make some pretty cool things - you know, like them gingerbread bats that we made for Halloween?" Nodding his head to show that he was listening to her, Daryl looked down at the pile of dough in his hands and started cutting at it in the same manner that he had done just ten minutes or so before.

"And we could try out a few new recipes and promote them on it, too. You know - encourage people to come down more often to try things."

As he mulled it over in his head, Daryl quickly came to the conclusion that he just really wasn't all that fussed either way. He supposed that he could see where Rosita was coming from with it all and that it could end up being a pretty good idea, but at the same time, he was still a little sceptical about it. After all, most of the people who came into the bakery lived in this town and they came regularly, too - so Daryl couldn't see how setting up some website thing could really boost any business for them.

Still, he reasoned to himself that there was absolutely no harm in trying and so he shrugged his shoulders as he looked up at Rosita, who had finished re-stocking the fridge and was staring over at him.

"Guess so," he said, genuinely indifferent to the whole idea. "I ain't gonna be the one to do it, though."

A bright grin spread out across Rosita's face to which Daryl just rolled his eyes, shaking his head and she began to ramble on once again about all of her ideas for the damned thing.

* * *

"Missed you, girl," Daryl mumbled into Beth's neck, the scruff of his beard itching against her skin in a way that wasn't necessarily uncomfortable or unwanted.

Smiling softly, Beth let out a content sigh, raising one of her hands from where they had both been lay by her side and bringing it up so that her fingers reached through his dark hair. Immediately, she moved so that her nails were scarping gently against his scalp at the back of his head. Although Daryl's body had stiffened ever so slightly at the initial contact - something he seemed unable to get out of the habit of doing - his shoulders relaxed just a few moments later as he eased into the contact.

It wasn't always like this between the two of them. In fact, this was something generally out of character for Daryl. Although he was always sweet and kind and good to her, it was overall quite rare to ever see him be so genuinely _affectionate_ towards her.

Again, his behaviour was something that wasn't necessarily uncomfortable or unwanted.

Not wanting to over-think any of this too much, Beth simply put it down to the fact that it had been almost one week since the two of them had last seen each other.

And in all honesty, a long and busy week it had been - for the both of them, she assumed. Now that the holiday season was quickly approaching, Beth found that her workload at college was bordering on overwhelming, and she was fighting as best as she could to remain on top of all of the assignments that her tutors were throwing in her direction. Not only did she have plenty of work to do for her course (because nobody said that becoming a social worker would be easy), she also had been picking up quite a lot of extra shifts at the diner in order to help out Carol, who was struggling to find someone new to employ.

Not wanting to think about anything right now other than relaxing, Beth concentrated on the fact that the two of them had a day off together tomorrow, and she let out another soft breath as she snuggled the back of her head further into one of the pillows on Daryl's bed, her hand still tangled in his hair, fingers still rhythmically rubbing away at the skin there.

"I missed you too," she said, her light blue eyes fluttering to a peaceful close as he nuzzled against her gently.

It was the middle of the afternoon, but it didn't take long for the two of them to doze off into a peaceful sleep.

.

.

.

It might have been their day off together that day, but that didn't mean that Beth and Daryl weren't up and about early enough. Unable to sleep in past seven o'clock any more (simply out of a habit that she didn't necessarily like all that much), Beth was stirring around the same time as her partner, and she greeted him with a mumbled promise of breakfast and a chaste kiss to the forehead before she slipped herself away from the warmth and cosiness of his bed.

Breakfast (scrambled egg and toast) was almost finished cooking when Daryl made an appearance in the doorway of the kitchen, wearing nothing but a plain white tee shirt and his dark boxers, his mouth open as he yawned and rubbed the back of his eyelids with his fisted hands. From where she stood at the stove, Beth offered him a soft smile over her shoulder - trying her best not to be too distracted by his lack of clothing, or to be caught out in the process of straight-up checking him out - and she quickly turned her attention back to the eggs, making sure that none of them were sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Moving so that he was stood slightly behind her (so close, but never actually touching her in the way that she kind of wished that he would), Daryl peeked over her shoulder; obviously trying to have a look and see what it was that she was making them for breakfast. He didn't comment about her simple choice of food and instead stepped towards one side so that he could grab two glasses out of one of the cupboards before he set them down on the counter.

"You wan' some apple juice?" he asked her, his voice still slightly hoarse and rough from sleep. Still a little flustered at his lack of clothing, Beth didn't fancy stuttering over her words and instead just nodded her head enthusiastically in response to his question.

Once the food was ready, they each carried their own plate towards the table, Beth choosing to sit down by Daryl's side as opposed to sitting across the way from him. It wasn't as though Daryl had the biggest table in the world, but it was big enough so that sitting across would him would just feel as though they were much too far away from one another.

Not much was said between the two of them for a few minutes whilst they ate and drank, the two of them waking up slowly but surely. Beth didn't consider herself to be a morning person by any means, but she wasn't the sort of person who could only function by downing a strong cup of coffee, either; so having a bit of food in her belly and some juice down her throat helped in the process of her coming round.

Finally, just as she was about to open her mouth to ask him what it was he wanted to do that day - if he wanted to do anything at all - Daryl spoke instead, cutting her off in a hurried set of words that she somehow managed to catch.

"Merle came by this week," he rasped, not even glancing in her direction as he spoke. As soon as the words had come flying out of his mouth, Daryl picked up his fork from where it had been resting on the plate and he shovelled some more of the eggs into his mouth.

His statement took Beth by surprise; and the young blonde really did have absolutely no idea what to say or even how to go about responding to Daryl's statement. Slowly, Beth chewed on the last piece of her toast, deciding to concentrate on the process of swallowing down the food instead of blurting out all of the questions that were swimming around in her mind right then.

Once she had gulped down the remaining bit of her drink, Beth turned her head in Daryl's direction and found that he was looking right at her now; an intense look in his dark blue eyes as they locked down on her own.

After visibly swallowing, Beth cleared her throat and attempted to go somewhere with the information that he had shared with her.

"Oh," Beth breathed out, attempting as much as she could not to sound all too unsure of herself or utterly horrified, either. Blinking quickly, Beth tucked a piece of hair behind her ear as she shuffled around in her seat. "How is he?"

By now, the pretty blonde knew far too well that Daryl understood her well enough to tell that they was that she was being with him right then was basically all a front. To tell that her attempt to feign casual interest was poor and that her 'calm' tone really was anything but. Yet Daryl didn't push Beth on any of that, and instead he went right along with her act - to which she was privately grateful for - and just shrugged his broad shoulders before biting down on some of his toast.

"Not too bad, I guess," he answered her, choosing to not really look at her once again and instead focused on everything else that he possibly could.

In a way, Beth felt as though she honestly couldn't complain about his lack of eye-contact with her in these sorts of situations. After all, it took him enough as it was to open up to her and confide in her about these sorts of things - she couldn't really scream and shout at him to look at her as he spoke.

Still, it made it just that little bit harder to read him - to understand properly how he felt about things and what he really thought about what it was that he was saying. It wasn't something that she could really explain, but at least to her, Daryl had such intense eyes - enough so that she could practically read his mind, see every single thought of his shining through those pools of blue.

It was quiet again for a few moments before Beth spoke up. "What was it that he wanted?"

At that, Daryl's neck probably almost broke from how quickly he snapped it round so that he was staring right at her, his eyes practically blazing as they once again locked with hers. Resisting the urge to cower in on herself, Beth stayed perfectly still whilst the older man looked over her, understanding how her words might have sounded just a little bit too harsh; maybe even cruel, even though that was definitely not her intention.

"I'm sorry," she said, her voice quiet and low as she shook her head. "I... I didn't mean it like _that._ "

Shaking his own head now, Daryl let out a long and heavy sigh, downing the rest of his own drink. "Nah," he said, looking down at his plate. "S'pose you've got a point." Pushing himself backwards so that his chair scraped against the floor, he grabbed his empty plate and glass before disappearing into the kitchen.

Watching Daryl walk away, Beth waited until he had entered the kitchen before she started scooping the remaining bits of egg into her mouth before she followed him, mimicking the way in which he carried both of the pots towards the small sink. She deposited them into the bowl that was half-filled with water before she turned to face Daryl, watching as he rummaged through the fridge for something or other.

Once again, he wasn't looking at her, and it seemed to help him talk to her. "Told you I went huntin' the other day," he started, and Beth nodded even though he couldn't see her. Of course, she remembered that he had indeed gone hunting - something that he had apparently loved doing since forever and always, but that he never really got much chance to do any more. "He, uh... Showed up. Just a little while before I was leavin'. An' I know it ain't possible, but sometimes, I've always thought that maybe Merle is sorta... Dunno. Telepathic, or some shit. S'like he just _knows_ what I'm doin' and when to show up just in time."

He stood up straight and closed the fridge now, seemingly empty handed, but Daryl made no attempt to turn around and look at her. Beth forced herself not to speak; not to attempt to reassure him by nodding her head and explaining that she used to feel the exact same way with her sister, back before everything all went wrong and before she left to start a new life in a new city.

"So, he came out with me. Wasn't much help, mind. Guess he's just out of the habit now. Anyways - Merle reckon's that now that our pa's gone, that he's gonna sell all the old bastard's shit. Wanted to know if I'd wanna help him dig through it all, see if anythin' was valuable."

Swallowing the urge to ask him what he said, Beth waited patiently for Daryl to continue himself. The second that he had mentioned his father, his voice had begun to waver, and despite the fact that Beth was refusing to speak - not wanting to cut him off or worry him into holding back - she couldn't help herself but to drift closer towards him, practically tiptoeing so not to disturb him.

"I told him no," Daryl said, looking down at his hands as Beth moved so that she was stood directly in front of him, her large blue eyes dancing around his face, taking in the way that his bottom lip was quivering and the way that his hands were trembling.

He looked up at her then, his brilliant blue eyes practically taking her breath away from all the emotion that they carried with them. "I don't want... Don't want _anythin',_ " he explained, his voice cracking once again.

Daryl didn't need to say anything else.

As far as Beth was concerned, he had said more than enough.

So without any hesitation, Beth pushed herself up onto her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders, feeling the way in which he let out a shaky breath against the crook of her neck as he nuzzled himself ever so slightly closer towards her. And then, after just a few seconds of seeming unsure of what to do, Daryl wrapped his own arms - which were now steady and mostly still - around her middle, holding her close against him in the middle of the kitchen.

"I missed you, Daryl," she said, her voice just a murmur yet loud enough for him to hear. At her gentle words, his hands gripped the sides of her hips a little tighter, pulling her impossibly closer towards him.

"Missed _you,_ girl," he said, mumbling the words into the crook of her neck.

* * *

 **Pinky promise the next one won't take so long!**


End file.
